Next, the effects of increasing suspension damping only are studied by increasing damping coefficient b, by a factor of 2. The new damping ratio becomes 0.5 (originally the damping ratio was 0.25).
In Figure 10-13, the higher damping is seen to reduce the sprung mass resonant peak of the acceleration transfer function but at the cost of high frequency harshness ( slower roll-off in sprung mass acceleration at high frequencies). Higher damping reduces both resonant peaks in the suspension deflection transfer function, as seen in Figure 10-14, leading to significant overall improvement in suspension deflection performance. Similarly, higher suspension damping also lead to increased damping ratios for both resonant peaks in the tire deflection transfer function, as seen in Figure 10- 15