Analysis of the roll properties of a tubular-type torsion beam suspension

Abstract

Tubular-type torsion beam rear-suspension systems are widely used in small passenger cars owing to their compactness, light weight, and cost efficiency. It is already known that the roll behaviour of a torsion beam suspension system can be approximated to that of a semitrailing arm suspension system. By this kinematic assumption, analytical equations to obtain the roll centre height, roll steer, and roll camber have already been developed in terms of geometry points. Therefore, this paper proposes an analytical method to calculate the torsional stiffness of a tubular beam from its cross-section area based on the assumption that a tubular beam is a series connection of finite lengths with a constant cross-section. In addition, a potential energy method is proposed to calculate the roll stiffness of a tubular torsion beam suspension system based on considering the bushing stiffness and torsional stiffness of the tubular beam without the use of any commercial computer-aided engineering (CAE) software. The torsional stiffness and roll stiffness predicted using the proposed method showed errors of about 4 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively, when compared with results from commercial CAE software.

Collaborative optimization of bushing installation angle and bushing stiffness of torsion beam suspension to improve the handing stability of the whole vehicle

“…When considering the effect of the rubber bushing on the roll stiffness of the suspension, it is assumed that the torsion angle θ F of the bushing about the axial direction and the torsion angle η of the beam, and the torsion angle θ T of the bushing about the radial direction and the camber angle γ of the wheel have the following relationship. 17…”

Topological optimization of a suspension concept considering the kinematics and compliance performance and the geometric non-linearity

“…However, the camber angle and the toe angle can be defined by introducing a local vector perpendicular to the plane (see Figure 2) attached to the wheel. 25 Therefore, the wheel alignment angles can be constrained by the wheel aligning vectors which are generated by the node positions and the displacements at the wheel centres.…”

“…However, the camber angle and the toe angle can be defined by introducing a local vector perpendicular to the plane (see Figure 2) attached to the wheel. 25 Therefore, the wheel alignment angles can be constrained by the wheel aligning vectors which are generated by the node positions and the displacements at the wheel centres. The vector s p located at the wheel centres is perpendicular to the plane of the wheel centres (see Figure 2(a)) and can be expressed by the components s x , s y and s z along the global coordinate axes x, y and z respectively of the vehicle (see Figure 2(b)) according to…”

Simplified optimization model and analysis of twist beam rear suspension system

“…Many researchers and engineers have worked on the twist beam to improve the performance of the twist beam rear suspension system using analytical 5 and numerical methods. 6 Mun et al 7 proposed an analytical approach to calculate torsional stiffness of a twist beam using linear beam theory. The roll steer, roll center height, roll camber are among the parameters that can be obtained by the kinematic assumption.…”