Fundamental Issues in Suspension Design for Heavy Road Vehicles

Heavy road vehicles play an important role in the economy of many countries by providing an efficient means of transporting freight. Such vehicles can also have a significant impact on safety, the infrastructure and the environment. The design of the suspension affects the performance of the vehicle in terms of ride, infrastructure damage, suspension working space, energy consumption, rollover stability, yaw stability, braking and traction. The published literature on suspension design for heavy road vehicles is reviewed. It is found that extensive knowledge exists, but that there are areas where improved understanding is needed. Areas identified as fundamental issues requiring attention include ride discomfort criteria, secondary suspensions, and controllable suspensions. Two issues in particular are examined in detail: suspension tuning and suspension configuration. In the tuning of suspension parameter values for vibration performance, numerical optimisation techniques have been used extensively, but generic tuning strategies have not been widely developed. Modal analysis is proposed as a technique for gaining the insight into vehicle vibration behaviour necessary to enable tuning strategies to be devised. As an example, the technique is applied to the pitch-plane vibration of a tractor-semitrailer. In analyses of new suspension configurations or concepts, comparison with alternative concepts is not always made. Lack of such comparisons makes the selection of an optimum concept difficult. Analysis of alternative concepts using simple mathematical models, and comparison of their performance using common criteria, is advocated for enabling informed selection of an optimum. An example involving two alternative roll control systems is used to demonstrate the issue.     

Improvements in Dynamic Characteristics of Automobile Suspension Systems Part 1. Two-Mass Systems

In a previous paper, [3] the random vibrations of simple linear models of automobile suspension were solved with respect to seat elasticity and human sensitivity to vibrations. The present study uses more realistic linear models taking into account the unsprung mass.

Two configurations of masses are investigated: a two-mass system consisting of a sprung mass and an unsprung mass, and a three-mass system having an additional mass which acts as a vibration absorber. The gain in comfort obtained by lowering the natural frequency of the sprung mass is calculated for various two-mass and three-mass models along with other characteristics such as the dynamic tyre load, spring and damper forces and relative motion of the masses.     

Information needs of the continuing urban transportation planning process

Urban transportation is identified as a functional element in the broader context of urban facilities and services. From this point of view, the relative merits of separate information systems for transportation planning and general urban planning, as contrasted to unified systems for all urban management functions, are discussed. The overriding need to make the most effective use of urban resources argues strongly for the unification of urban information systems to the greatest possible extent consistent with the special data requirements of various functional programs. The need to identify and correlate data items for very small areal units and to keep current records of the constantly shifting patterns of social and economic activities in urban areas present difficult, but not insurmountable technical problems. However, the most serious barrier to the development and implementation of comprehensive urban information systems is concluded to be institutional, rather than technical, in nature.