By

Dr. Gan Leong Ming

Semester 2012/2013-II
Chapter 5 : Ride
What is Handling ?
Stability measures the time domain response of a vehicle to
disturbance inputs
1. Normal driving
2. Spirited driving
3. Emergency maneuvers

Departure from linearity induces anxiety in most drivers in
accident avoidance maneuvers potentially leading to loss of
control.

Driving pleasure is a subjective evaluation of how easy it is for
drivers to use their car at its handling limit in a variety of
situations.

Handling is influenced by component design, track and wheel
base, CG height, chassis stiffness, active systems, but mainly
tires.
What is Ride ?
Ride Comfort is a frequency weighted measure
of vertical acceleration together with subjective
assessments of harshness over various external
road surface induced excitations.

Ride is determined by spring, bushing and
damper stiffness, component weights and natural
frequencies.

The Vehicle Dynamics Engineer is challenged to
strike the best balance between ride and
handling to establish the desired vehicle
character.
Introduction
Vehicle experience a broad spectrum of vibrations (due to
high speed travel)

ride reference to tactile (physical) and visual
vibrations

Aural (Acoustic) vibrations noise

Ride frequency 0 to 25 Hz

Noise frequency 25 to 20,000 Hz

Design and construction quality of a car judge by the
vibration environment
Introduction
Study of lower-frequency ride vibrations
mode important for vehicle dynamics

EXCITATION
SOURCES
Road roughness
Tire/wheel
Driveline
Engine
VEHICLE
DYNAMIC
RESPONSE
VIBRATIONS
RIDE PERCEPTION
(Vehicle System)
(input to vehicle vibration)
(determine the magnitude and
direction of vibrations imposed
on the passenger compartment)
Introduction
Main topics of ride study including,
1. Ride excitation sources
2. Basic mechanics of vehicle vibration response
3. Human perception and tolerance of vibrations
Excitation Sources
Two classes of ride vibrations

Road roughness

On-board from rotating components
(include the tire/wheel assemblies,
driveline and engine)
Excitation Sources
Road Roughness
Tire/Wheel
Assembly
Driveline
Engine/
Transmission
Excitation Sources Road Roughness
Road Roughness
Potholes from
pavement failure to
ever-present road
Measurement of elevation
along wheel tracks (deviation in
elevation along a road)
Road serve as broad-band
random signals
Measured using PSM (power
Spectral Density) function
Excitation Sources Road Roughness
- Every road section is unique

- Characteristic drop in amplitude
with wavenumber (Representing
PSD)

- Represent the deviations in the
road surface on the order of few
feet to hundreds of feet in length

- Higher amplitudes rougher roads
Portland Cement concrete (pcc) rigid pavement
Excitation Sources Road Roughness
Constant amplitude at low frequency, begins increase rapidly above 1Hz
Road roughness presents its largest input to vehicle at high frequency (high
frequency ride vibrations)
Important to design ride isolation behavior suspension on highway vehicle
Road roughness vertical input to the vehicle that would excite bounce and
pitch motions
Excitation Sources Tire / Wheel Assembly
Soft and compliant to absorb road bumps as part of the ride isolation
system
Imperfections in
rotating system cause
-Mass imbalance
-Dimensional variations
-Stiffness variations
Variations in the forces
and moment as it rolls
Transmitted to axle
(excitation sources for
ride vibrations
Forces (vertical,
longitudinal and lateral
direction
Moments (overturning,
aligning torque, rolling
resistance) for steering
system vibrations
Excitation Sources Tire / Wheel Assembly
Dynamics imbalance (non-
uniform and asymmetric
mass along axis of rotation)
Creates rotating torque
on the wheel (tire
absorb variations)
Steered wheels steering
vibrations due to excitation
Contribution to imbalance effect
by tires, wheels, hubs and
brake drums
Excitation Sources Tire / Wheel Assembly
Significant effect of the non-uniformities in
a tire/wheel assembly is the generation of
excitation forces and displacements at the
axle of the vehicle as the wheel rotates.
Excitation Sources Tire / Wheel Assembly
Radial/vertical force variations may be due to the runout of the hub
and wheel

Various harmonics of radial non-uniformities in a tire/wheel assembly
: functionally equivalent to imperfections in shapes

1
st
harmonic due to the runout

Higher harmonic runouts in the wheel are not as closely related to
radial force variations in the overall assembly
Excitation Sources Tire / Wheel Assembly
1
st
harmonic (eccentricity)
tires, wheels and hubs individually may exhibit radial eccentricity
Produces both radial and tractive excitation on the axle

2
nd
harmonic (Ovality)
Tires and wheels may have eliptical variations that add or subtract
depending on the mounting positions

Higher-order radial variations
Predominantly of importance in the tire only
Such variations are substantially absorbed by the tire
Effects may arise from construction methods

Radial force variations is relatively independent
of speed
Excitation Sources Tire / Wheel Assembly
Tractive force variations arise from dimensional and
stiffness non-uniformities as a result of two effects
Roll up and down the hill
Longitudinal force is
involved and a tractive force
variation is observed
Magnitude dependent on the load
carried and amount of
eccentricity, independent of speed
Excitation Sources Tire / Wheel Assembly
Lateral force variations arise from non-
uniformities in the tire, but cannot be readily
related to lateral runnout effects in the wheel or
hub components

Independent of speed

1
st
order lateral runnout cause wobble, which
affect the dynamic balance of the assembly

Higher order lateral variations predominantly
important in the tire only
Excitation Sources Driveline Excitation
Noise could be generate as a result of gear
mating reactions

Torsional vibration occur along drivetrain
Driveline
Driveshaft
Gear reduction
Differential in the drive
axle
Axle shafts to the
wheels
Together with spline and universal joints
most potential for exciting ride vibrations
Excitation Sources Driveline Excitation
Source of driveshaft ride
excitations
Mass imbalance
Asymmetry of the
rotating parts
Shaft off-center
Not straight
Running clearances
Elastic member
and defect
Excitation Sources Driveline Excitation
Secondary couples
Mean the use of
universal joints in a
driveline

Proportional to the
torque applied to the
driveline and the
angle of the universal
joint
Excitation Sources Engine/Transmission
Engine
Primary source
Source for vibration
excitation
Flywheel As inertial damper
Create torque
variations
Acts through the driveline,
as excitation forces
Engine roll most important
vibration direction (due to
firing frequency)
Excitation Sources Engine/Transmission
Isolating methods
design a mounting
system with a roll
axis that aligns with
engine inertial roll
axis (resonance
must below the
firing frequency)
Excitation Sources Engine/Transmission
Other excitation force depend on
engine configuration and type

1. 4 cyl inline : vertical force (balance by
counter-rotating shafts)

2. 4 cyl opposed, flat : force and moment
in rotational frequency

3. 6 cyl inline : balanced in all direction

4. 6 cyl 60deg V : counter ratating couple
at rotational frequency (balanced by
counter-rotating shaft)

5. 8 cyl inline : balanced in all direction
The sprung mass resting on the suspension and the tires
is capable of vertical motion. The effective stiffness of the
suspension and tire springs in series is called the ride
rate or wheel rate and is determines as follows:
( )
stiffness tire K
stiffness suspension K
rate ride RR
where
K K
K K
= RR
t
s
t s
t s
=
=
=
+
Ride Rate and Natural Frequency
Ride Rate and Natural Frequency
In the absence of damping, the bounce natural frequency at each corner of
the vehicle can be determined from:
gravity of on accelerati g
mass sprung front the of weight Mg W
mass sprung front M
where
Hz] , [cycle/sec
/g W
RR
2
1
c) (radian/se
M
RR
rf
rf
rf
rf
rf
=
= =
=
|
.
|

\
|
=
=
e
e
Because there is so little difference between the undamped and damped natural
frequency, the undamped is commonly used to characterize the vehicle
suspension.
The lowest acceleration occurs at the natural frequency of 1 Hz. At
higher values of natural frequency (stiffer springs) the acceleration peak
in the range 1-5 Hz increases reflecting greater transmission of road
acceleration inputs.
Effect of acceleration transmit to Sprung Mass Natural Frequency
Good to keeping the suspension soft for ride
isolation where the given vehicle size and
suspension envelope constrain the natural
frequency for most cars to a minimum in the
1 to 1.5 Hz range
For performance car, stiff suspension is required
for better handling but ride is sacrificed with
natural frequency up to 2 -2.5 Hz
Road frequency is taken as input to study the sprung mass natural frequency
Perception of Ride
Perception/sensitivity normally associated with the
level of comfort experienced when traveling in a vehicle

Perceived ride cumulative product of many factors

Tactile vibrations transmitted to the passengers body
through the seat, hands, feet

Acoustic vibrations (noise) : type of noise, level of noise
(correlated with other vehicle vibrations)

Comfort seat design influence by design (fits to the
passenger, temperature, ventilation, interior space, hand
holdsride quality)
Perception of Ride
Some of the variables to judge the ride
vibrations:
Seating position
Influence of hand and foot vibration input
Single versus multiple-frequency input
Multi-direction input
Comfort scaling
Duration of exposure
Sound and visual vibration inputs
Conclusion
The ultimate goal for ride research is to eliminate
all vibrations in a vehicle

Good direction for development effort :

1. Elimination of in vibration will always expose another
lesser annoyance

2. Impossible to eliminate all vibration, somehow
vibrations are the source of road feel considered to be
essential feedback to the driver of a motor vehicle
Problem
Determine the front and rear suspension
ride rate for a 5.0L Mustang given that the
tire rate is 213.94 kg/cm. The front
suspension rate is 25.54 kg/cm and the
rear is 17.86 kg/cm. Also estimate the
natural frequencies of the two suspensions
when the front tire are loaded to 4258 N
and the rear tires are at 3248 N each