HEAVY VEHICLE DYNAMICS-COMPARISON BETWEEN LEAF SPRING AND

HYDROPNEUMATIC SUSPENSIONS

C. Sujatha and P. Tejesu

Machine Dynamics Laboratory,
Applied Mechanics Department,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai- 600 036

ABSTRACT

suspension operates with a gas spring and oil column. It

consists of an actuator and accumulator cylinder. The
accumulator piston is fitted in the accumulator cylinder,
which separates oil and nitrogen gas. As the wheel
encounters a bump, the accumulator cylinder slides into the
actuator cylinder, thus pushing the oil into the accumulator
cylinder through a damper valve block. This pushes the
accumulator piston and hence compresses the nitrogen gas
adiabatically. This constitutes a very good combination of
spring damper system in a vertical arrangement with very
few moving parts to provide very high reliability and smooth
operation. This arrangement gives an increasing rate of
stiffness at full load conditions, still maintaining lesser
transmissibility of vibrations to the passengers. It also has
higher reliability (fatigue life) compared to leaf springs.
Besides, this type of suspension has some other advantages
over the leaf spring like lower weight, easy installation and
ease of maintenance (there is no problem of entry of dirt or
water inside, as is possible with leaf springs.)

This paper reports the vertical dynamic response of two

heavy vehicles to three different types of terrain under
various load and speed conditions. The vehicles studied
were (i) a heavy vehicle with conventional leaf springs at the
front and rear (ii) the same heavy vehicle with the rear leaf
springs replaced by hydropneumatic suspensions. The roads
considered for the study were three 1km stretches of
premixed bituminous carpet road, water-bound macadam
gravel road and granite paved herringbone road which were
characterized using a fifth wheel bump integrator. The
speeds covered were 20, 30, 40 and 60 kilometres per hour
(kmph). The tests were carried out for no load as well as for
1/3, 2/3 and full loads, and also for extra load on one side of
the vehicle. Vibration measurements were made at a few
points on the chassis directly above the suspensions as well
as on the axle and the drivers seat. Typical power spectral
density (psd) plots of acceleration have been reported.
Graphs of root mean square (rms) acceleration as a function
of frequency for various roads, loads and speeds have been
compared with ISO 2631. It is seen that for loads beyond 2/3
of full load, the hydropneumatic suspension gives better ride
quality than the leaf spring, whereas the latter gives superior
results at no load.
1

In order to conduct a thorough comparative study of the ride

behaviour of these suspension systems, vibration
measurements were made on vehicles with these
suspensions. The roughness of the roads traversed by these
vehicles was also measured. The study encompasses
various speeds, loads and roads. Road undulation
measurements were made on the suburban roads of
Chennai in India. Three stretches of roads were chosen viz.,
a good road, a bad road and a herringbone road. The
vertical vibration response to these road inputs was
measured for a heavy vehicle having hydropneumatic
suspension at the rear and leaf springs at the front. These
vibration spectra and root mean square values were
compared with those for a vehicle having conventional leaf
springs both at the front and rear. Finally these experimental
values were used to plot the whole body vibration spectra in
the frequency range 0 20 Hz. These root mean square
[1]
spectra were compared with the ISO 2631/(3) 1 hour
reduced comfort boundary for a passengers location and 8
hour fatigue decreased proficiency boundary for the drivers
location.

INTRODUCTION

The primary function of a suspension system is to isolate the

vehicle as far as practicable from shock loading and
vibrations due to irregularities of the road surface. Besides, it
should do this without impairing the stability, steering or
general handling qualities of the vehicle. Vibrations in
vehicles have many detrimental effects such as damage to
the vehicle itself, discomfort to the driver and passengers
and damage to the cargo transported. Vehicles expose the
human body to vibration, which may cause discomfort and
annoyance, interference with activities, and present a risk to
health.
This paper discusses the results of experimental work
carried out for the measurement of vibration response of
heavy vehicles to evaluate their ride behaviour with two
different types of suspensions, namely the conventional leaf
springs and prototype models of hydropneumatic
suspensions which are similar to single tube dampers. This

2 VEHICLE VIBRATION RESPONSE MEASUREMENTS

Experiments were conducted on a heavy vehicle, which may
be configured either as a passenger or a haulage vehicle
(Figure 1). The aim of the experiments was to compare the

311

vibration levels at various points on the vehicle for two

different types of suspension systems, namely, the
conventional leaf springs and the hydropneumatic struts, the
latter being presently used only for off-road vehicles in India.
The hydropneumatic struts used for the present study are
prototype models developed for potential use in heavy
vehicles, especially for heavily loaded conditions. The study
includes determination of vibration levels for various speed,
road and load conditions. Accordingly, the tests have been
conducted for the following cases of vehicles, speeds and
loads.

Figure 2b: Vehicle with leaf springs at front and

hydropneumatic suspension at rear (Vehicle 2)

2.1 Test Vehicles

2.3 Test Speeds
Vehicle 1: Heavy vehicle with conventional leaf springs at
the front (11 leaves) and rear (15 leaves). The suspension
has a span of 1500 mm, leaf width of 75 mm and leaf
thickness of 10 mm. The leaf springs have been anchored
at their front ends and shackled at their rear ends. (Figure
2a).
Vehicle 2: Heavy vehicle with conventional leaf springs (11
leaves) at the front and hydropneumatic suspension charged
to 17.5 bar at the rear (Figure 2b). The hydropneumatic
struts have been rigidly fixed both at the front and rear ends.

The study encompassed the speed range of 20 to 60 kmph,

covering the normal operating speeds in urban and
suburban areas in India. For the bad road, tests were
conducted at 20 and 30 kmph. It was not possible to test at
higher speeds due to the extremely bumpy nature of the
road. For the good and herringbone roads, tests were
conducted at 20, 40 and 60 kmph.
2.4 Test Loads
The vibration levels were measured at various load
conditions namely:
(i)
No load condition of the vehicle corresponding to a
gross weight of the vehicle of 6.77 tonnes.
(ii)
Vehicle loaded to 1/3 of full load capacity. For this
64 sand bags of weight 400 N each were loaded on
the floor of the vehicle, increasing the weight of the
vehicle by 2.56 tonnes to a value of 9.33 tonnes.
(iii)
Vehicle loaded to 2/3 of full load capacity by adding
another set of 64 sand bags amounting to a total
external loading of 5.12 tonnes and to a gross
weight of 11.89 tonnes.
(iv)
Vehicle loaded to full load capacity by the addition
of a total of 192 bags of sand. This corresponds to
a load of 7.68 tonnes and gross weight of 14.45
tonnes.
(v)
To simulate the condition of extra passenger or
cargo weight on one side of the vehicle, namely the
left side of the vehicle, 30 bags were shifted to the
left side and an extra 13 bags were loaded taking
the gross weight to 14.97 tonnes. (Figure 3).

2.2 Test Roads

Good road: 1 km stretch of a premixed bituminous carpet
road of mean roughness index of 2810 mm/km. This is
characteristic of a good road within the city limits.
Bad road: 1 km stretch of a water bound macadam gravel
road of mean roughness index of 5230 mm/km. This is
characteristic of a village road.
Herringbone road: 1 km stretch of a road paved with
granite blocks, of mean roughness index of 6280 mm/ km.
This type of road is generally used only with off-road military
vehicles, but was used in the present study, being a case of
an extremely rough road with small wavelength components
present.

Figure 1: The vehicle used for experiments

Figure 3: Vehicle in overloaded condition

Figure 2a: Vehicle with leaf springs (Vehicle 1)

312

2.5 Points of Measurement

4 ROAD UNDULATION MEASUREMENTS

Measurements were made at eight different locations. Six of

these points were on the chassis longitudes above the front
and rear suspensions on the left and right hand sides of the
vehicle. Besides, measurements were also made at the
drivers seat and on the rear axle. In this paper, acceleration
levels have been reported at points A and B as described
below. They are:
Point A: On the chassis longitude above the rear end of the
rear suspension on the left-hand side (LHS) (Figure 4).
Point B: On the chassis longitude above the rear end of the
rear suspension on the right-hand side (RHS).

The automatic road unevenness recorder (Figure 5) consists

of a single-wheeled trailer with a hard rubber tire mounted on
a chassis and measures the relative vertical movement
between the axle and chassis. This device, which is also
known as the bump integrator or roughometer, gives
speedily a quantitative integrated evaluation of surface
irregularities on an electro-magnetic counter. The operating
wheel speed of the machine is 30 1/2 kmph.
The fifth wheel was towed by a van carrying the instruments
required for obtaining road undulation records. The road
undulation data were recorded in the form of electrical
signals by mounting an inductive accelerometer vertically on
the axle of the fifth wheel. Continuous recordings were made
for the three different stretches of roads chosen. The vehicle
was driven at the required constant speed and undulations
were recorded on the left and right sides, as well as at the
centre of the test roads chosen. Representative 1 km
stretches of the three roads were used for the analysis.

3 TRUCK VIBRATION RESPONSE MEASUREMENTS

Acceleration levels were measured at eight locations in the
vertical direction by means of inductive type of
accelerometers rigidly fixed to the points of measurement by
appropriate clamps. The signals from the transducers were
fed to carrier frequency amplifiers for signal conditioning and
were recorded on a cassette using an instrumentation tape
recorder, so that detailed spectral and statistical analyses
could be carried out later in the laboratory. Since all
measurements were made in a running vehicle, two 12 V
lead acid cells were used to power a sine wave inverter,
which in turn powered the entire instrumentation setup. One
channel was used for flutter compensation to minimize the
effect of tape speed variation and noise due to vibration. The
tape recorder was set for a speed of 15/16 in/sec to give
measurements in the frequency range of 0-625 Hz. All
readings were taken after the vehicle reached steady state
speed condition.

Figure 5: Bump integrator or Roughometer

Table 1 shows the rms values and roughness indices for the
various roads considered. The values indicated are the
average values of the left, centre and right sides of the road.
Figures 6 to 8 show the displacement power spectral density
curves for the three roads in terms of spatial frequency.
From these figures it is seen that the psd curve
corresponding to the herringbone road shows the largest
spectral amplitudes and that corresponding to the good road
shows the lowest spectral amplitudes. The herringbone road
is seen to have a lot of small wavelength components,
characterized by large spectral amplitudes at large wave
numbers. The good road, on the contrary, does not have
small wavelength components.
Figure 4: Photograph of transducer placed at point A
The recorded vibration data in the form of analog signals
were played back from the instrumentation tape recorder
and digitized using an analog to digital converter interfaced
to a personal computer. Data acquisition software with user
friendly Graphics User Interface (GUI) written in Visual Basic
language was used. The software has the facility to take
multiple samples and average the data. Digitized time
domain data were transformed to the frequency domain
using programs written in MATLAB version 5.1 package.
Programs were also written for the statistical analysis of the
data and to plot spectrum and power spectral density curves.

Road
type

Surface type

Rms
acceleration
g

Good

Premixed
bituminous
carpet
Water bound
macadam
gravel
Granite blocks

0.258

Mean
roughness
index
(mm/km)
2810

0.399

5230

0.640

6280

Bad

Herring
bone

Table.1: Road characteristics

313

The response of an individual due to a particular vibration

condition is dependent on a complex combination of many
variables such as vibration level, vibration frequency,
vibration axes and duration and the criteria by which
vibrations are to be evaluated. The general guidance
provided in the standards is restricted to the effects of
magnitude, frequency, axis and duration of vibration.
Considerable research has been conducted by a number of
investigators in an attempt to rate the severity of exposure
and define ride comfort limits. The most widely followed
algorithms worldwide are NASA algorithm, ISVR practice,
British Standard 6841(1987) and ISO 2631(1997). The
NASA algorithm is based on the measurement of floor
vibration in five directions viz. vertical, lateral, longitudinal,
pitch and roll. The latter three recommend 12 axes
measurements (3 translational and 3 rotational at the seat, 3
translational at the seat back, 3 translational of the feet).

Spectral density (m3 / cycle )

0.1

Good road

0.01
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
1E-6
1E-7
1E-8
1E-9
1E-10

0.1
1
Wave number (cycle / m)

Figure 6: Spatial psd of good road

There are four physical factors of primary importance in

determining the human response to vibration, namely, the
intensity, the frequency, the direction and the duration
(exposure time) of the vibration. In practical evaluation of
any vibration of which a physical description can be given in
terms of those factors, three main human criteria can be
distinguished. These are: (i) The preservation of working efficiency (" fatigue
decreased proficiency boundary").
(ii) The preservation of health or safety (" exposure limit").
(iii) The preservation of comfort (" the reduced comfort
boundary").
This study presents the results of ride quality assessment
carried out on Vehicles 1 and 2. The root mean square (rms)
values of acceleration in one - third octave bands got from
the experimental work are compared with the ISO 2631
standards.

1
0.1

Bad road

Spectral density (m 3 / cycle )

0.01
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
1E-6
1E-7
1E-8
1E-9
1E-10

0.1
Wave number (cycle / m)

Figure 7: Spatial psd of bad road

The vibration levels at the drivers seat were compared with

the 8 hour fatigue decreased proficiency boundary in the
longitudinal direction (az) of ISO standards. The response at
a passengers location were compared with the 1 hour
reduced comfort boundary in the longitudinal direction (az)
(direction from foot to head of a standing passenger or from
buttocks to head of a seated passenger). The 1 hour
reduced comfort boundary is used for the passenger based
on the assumption that his journey lasts an hour.

1
0.1

Herringbone road

Spectral density (m3 / cycle )

0.01
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
1E-6
1E-7
1E-8

6 COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LEAF SPRING AND

HYDROPNEUMATIC SUSPENSION SYSTEMS

1E-9
1E-10

0.1
Wave number (cycle / m)

Figure 9a shows a typical psd measured at location A.

-3

xRms=
10
0.13213

Wgt=HAN

%Overlap= 40

ol1r20tb1.dat

12

Figure 8: Spatial psd of herringbone road

10

5 RIDE EVALUATION OF TRUCK

z
H
2/
g
D
S
P
n
oi
t
ar
el
e
c
c
A

Ride quality is concerned with the sensation or feel of the

passenger in the environment of a vehicle. Ride comfort
problems mainly arise from vibrations of the vehicle, which
may be induced by a variety of sources. These generally fall
into two classes : road roughness and onboard sources. One
of the most useful presentations is the power spectral
density function.

0.0
LIN
Freq (Hz)
dF=0.1221Hz
[ 0.00000 to 22.93650] Sec
Npoints= 16384

20.0
Avg= 4

Figure 9a: Psd of Vehicle 1 (12.89 tonnes, bad road, 20

kmph)

314

Figure 9b shows a typical psd plot for Vehicle 2.

0.6
L : Leaf spring, H : Hydro pneumatic suspension
Herringbone road, at point A

-3

4.5

xRms=
10
0.06961

Wgt=HAN

%Overlap= 50

oh1r20hb1.dat

0.5

rms acceleration (g)

4
3.5

z
H
g
D
S
P
n
oi
t
ar
el
e
c
c
A

2/

2.5
2
1.5

L 20 kmph
L 40 kmph
H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.5

0.0
LIN
Freq (Hz)
dF=0.1221Hz
[ 0.00000 to 20.47950] Sec
Npoints= 16384

0.1

20.0
Avg= 4

Figure 9b: Psd of Vehicle 2 (11.89 tonnes, bad road, 20

kmph)
From psd plots such as the ones shown above, the rms
values of acceleration were obtained and these were plotted
as a function of load for various roads and speeds. These
plots were also redrawn as rms acceleration vs one-third
octave centre frequency to study the ride behaviour of the
vehicles.

0.22
0.20

rms acceleration (g)

0.18

12

14

Load (Tonnes)

Figure 12: Comparison of leaf spring and

hydropneumatic suspensions for herringbone road at
point A
0.18

L : Leaf spring, H : Hydro pneumatic suspensions

Good road, at point B

rms acceleration (g)

0.16

Comparison between Vehicles 1 and 2 in terms of

acceleration vs. load at point A for different speeds is as
shown in Figures 10 to 12 for the good, bad and herringbone
roads respectively. Figure 13 shows the comparison at point
B for the good road.
L : leaf spring, H : Hydro pneumatic suspension
Good road, at point A

10

0.14

L 20 kmph
L 40 kmph
H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph

0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06

L 20 kmph
L 40 kmph
H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph

0.04
8

10

12

14

Load (Tonnes)

0.16

Figure
13:
Comparison
of
leaf
spring
and
hydropneumatic suspensions for good road at point B

0.14
0.12

Figures 10 to 13 show that the rms accelerations of Vehicle

1 are lower than those of Vehicle 2 under no load condition,
i.e., corresponding to a gross weight of 6.77 tonnes. As the
load increases, beyond 2/3rd of the full load condition,
Vehicle 2 gives lower rms values than Vehicle 1 for roads
with predominantly large wavelengths (good and bad roads).
For roads with a considerable amount of low wavelength
components like the herringbone road, Vehicle 1 gives ride
comfort comparable to Vehicle 2 for these loads also. It was
found that the leaf springs at rear in Vehicle 1 became
inverted for loads beyond 75% of rated load due to inability
of the springs to withstand these higher loads.

0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
8

10

12

14

Load (Tonnes)

Figure 10: Comparison of leaf spring and

hydropneumatic suspensions for good road at point A

rm
s
ac
cel
er
ati
on
(g)

0.25

L : Leaf spring, H : Hydro pneumatic strut

suspension, Bad road, at point A

L 20 kmph
L 30 kmph
H 20 kmph
H 30 kmph

Comparison has made between Vehicle 1 and Vehicle 2 in

terms of ride comfort for different load, speed and road
conditions at point A as shown in Figures 14 to 17. Here the
rms spectra have been superimposed over the one hour
reduced comfort boundary. Rms acceleration spectra at
point G have been superimposed over the eight hour fatigue
decreased proficiency curves in Figure 18. It is seen from
Figures 14(a and b) and 15(a and b) that at no load condition
of the vehicle, the major frequency components of vibration
are in the range 4 to 8 Hz, which is the most uncomfortable
range for a human being. These components are more
severe in the case of the vehicle with the hydropneumatic
struts at the rear (Figures 14b and 15b). For a load of 11.89
tonnes, Vehicle 2 gives much better ride performance than

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05
8

10

12

14

Load (Tonnes)

Figure 11: Comparison of leaf spring and

hydropneumatic suspensions for bad road at point A

315

Figures 18(a and b) show the rms acceleration spectra at

point G (drivers location) for Vehicle 2 traversing the bad
and herringbone roads under a load of 14.97 tonnes. From
these figures it is evident that the driver will not get fatigued
over a period of 8 hours even on the worst roads with the
hydropneumatic suspension system.

Vehicle 1 (Figures 16a and b). Vehicle 2 gives much better

ride performance than Vehicle 1 for a herringbone road at 20
kmph. However, at higher speeds, the performance of both
the vehicles is comparable for this road. Beyond 12.89
tonnes, Vehicle 2 is superior to Vehicle 1 (Figures 17 a and
b).

6. 77 Tonnes load with hydro

pneumatic suspension at rear

6.77 Tonnes load with

leaf spring suspension at rear
rms acceleration (g)

rms acceleration (g)

0.1

0.01

B 20 kmph
B 30 kmph
1 hour reduced comfort
curve, B : bad road

0.001

0.1

0.01

B 20 kmph
B 30 kmph
1 hour reduced Comfort
curve, B : bad road

0.001

0.0001

0.0001
1

10
Frequency of one-third octave band (Hz)

Figure 14 a: B: bad road, Vehicle 1

rms acceleration (g)

Figure 14 b: B: bad road, Vehicle 2

1

6.77 Tonnes load with

leaf spring suspension at rear
rms acceleration (g)

0.1

0.01

H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph
1 hour reduced comfort
curve, H : herringbone road

0.001

0.1

0.01

H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph
1 hour reduced Comfort
curve, H : herringbone road

0.0001

10
Frequency of one-third octave band (Hz)

Figure 15 a: H:herringbone road, Vehicle 1

10
Frequency of one - third octave band (Hz)

Figure 15 b: H: herringbone road, Vehicle 2

1
11.89 Tonnes load with hydro
pneumatic suspension at rear

rms accelearion (g)

11.89 Tonnes load with

leaf spring suspension at rear
rms acceleration (g)

6. 77 Tonnes load with hydro

pneumatic suspension at rear

0.001

0.0001
1

10
Frequency of one - third octave band (Hz)

0.1

0.1

0.01

0.0001
1

H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph
H 60 kmph
1 hour reduced comfort
curve, H : herringbone road

0.01

H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph
1 hour reduced comfort
curve, H : herringbone road

0.001

0.001

10
Frequency of one-third octave band (Hz)

Figure16 a: H: herringbone road, Vehicle 1

10
Frequency of one - third octave band (Hz)

Figure 16 b: H: herringbone road, Vehicle 2

316

1
14.97 Tonnes load with
hydropneumatic suspension at rear

14.97 Tonnes load with

hydropneumatic suspension at rear

rms acceleration (g)

rms acceleration (g)

0.1

0.01
H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph
1 hour reduced comfort
curve, H : herringbone road

0.001

0.1

0.01
B 20 kmph
B 30 kmph
1 hour reduced Comfort
curve, B : bad road

0.001

0.0001

0.0001
1

10
Frequency of one-third octave band (Hz)

Figure 17 b: B: bad road, Vehicle 2

Figure 17 a: H: herringbone, Vehicle 2

1

1
14.97 Tonnes load with hydropneumatic
suspension at rear

rms acceleration (g)

rms acceleration (g)

0.1

0.01

B 20 kmph
B 30 kmph
8 hour fatigue profifciency
curve, B : bad road

0.001

14.97 Tonnes load with hydropneumatic

suspension at rear
0.1

0.01

H 20 kmph
H 40 kmph
8 hour fatigue proficiency
curve, H : herringbone road

0.001

0.0001

0.0001
1

10
Frequency of one - third octave band (Hz)

Figure 18 a: B: bad road, Vehicle 2

8

10
Frequency of one-third octave band (Hz)

10
Frequency of one - third ocatve band (Hz)

Figure 18 b: H: herringbone road, Vehicle 2

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

In this paper, the experiments conducted for the

measurement of vibration response of trucks have been
described. The results obtained for a vehicle with leaf
springs at both front and rear are compared with those for a
vehicle with hydropneumatic suspension at the rear and leaf
springs in front. The studies have been made for three
different roads and speeds and for five different load
conditions. Comparisons have been made based on rms
acceleration values as well as acceleration spectra. The
results have been compared with ISO 2631 limits. The
hydropneumatic suspension system is found to be superior
to the leaf spring system for two-third of rated load and
above. With optimization of charge pressure, it is possible
that the performance of the hydropneumatic system will
further improve.

[1] International Standards organization (ISO) Evaluation

of human exposure to whole-body Z-axis vertical vibration in
the frequency range 1-63 Hz., 2631/ 3, 1985.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Combat Vehicle Research
and Development Establishment (CVRDE), Chennai for
having supported this project

317