In reality a vehicle suspension is required to perform effectively under a range of operating conditions including high levels of braking and accelerating, cornering at speed and traversing rough terrain – manoeuvres which are required to be done in comfort and with safety. These requirements present the chassis engineer with some challenging problems and introduce some unavoidable design compromises.There are a number of excellent texts. which address a number of these issues. The aim here is to give a broad treatment of the main issues for the aspiring automotive designer. The chapter begins by identifying the functions of suspensions and goes on to introduce the student to the mechanics of suspension systems.
Suspension kinematics and kinetics are analysed and suspension components and characteristics are discussed.
There is a section on ride which includes vehicle excitation induced by road surfaces, vehicle modelling and human perception of ride.
The chapter concludes with a section outlining some of the developments in controllable suspensions.