Development of a Refined Quarter Car Model for the Analysis of Discomfort due to Vibration.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Acoustics and Vibration Volume 2012, Article ID 863061, 7 pages doi:10.1155/2012/863061 Research Article Development of a Refined Quarter Car Model for the Analysis of Discomfort due to Vibration A. N. Thite Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment, Oxford Brookes University, Wheatley, Oxford OX33 1HX, UK Correspondence should be addressed to A. N. Thite, athite@brookes.ac.uk Received 24 April 2012; Accepted 26 May 2012 Academic Editor: Joseph C. S. Lai Copyright © 2012 A. N. Thite. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In the automotive industry, numerous expensive and time-consuming trials are used to “optimize” the ride and handling performance. Ideally, a reliable virtual prototype is a solution. The practical usage of a model is linked and restricted by the model complexity and reliability. The object of this study is development and analysis of a refined quarter car suspension model, which includes the effect of series stiffness, to estimate the response at higher frequencies; resulting Maxwell’s model representation does not allow straightforward calculation of performance parameters. Governing equations of motion are manipulated to calculate the effective stiffness and damping values. State space model is arranged in a novel form to find eigenvalues, which is a unique contribution. Analysis shows the influence of suspension damping and series stiffness on natural frequencies and regions of reduced vibration response. Increase in the suspension damping coeffic