Analysis of the impact of bushings rigidity in a real car suspension

The objective of this project is to analyze the impact of the properties of the silentblocks of the front and rear suspension of a vehicle on its dynamic response. The main function of the suspension’s silentblocks has always been to absorb vibrations due to irregularities of the road, so that they don’t reach the cabin of the car and, in this way, improve the comfort for the passengers. However, some recent studies have proven that not only do they affect the cabin comfort, but they also have a direct impact in the way the car behaves in certain dynamic conditions, such as lateral displacements or obstacle’s overtaking. Some studies have been made to estimate this influence. Nevertheless, most of them cover very generic situations. The aim of this work is, therefore, the development of an in-depth study of the influence of each of the mechanical properties of each of these components in the vertical, roll, and lateral response of a vehicle. To do so, ADAMS/Car software was used. This software permits the development of complex realistic car multibody systems through a variety of prebuilt templates provided by the software. It is then possible to make this model perform a series of tests to evaluate these responses. In order to develop the realistic model, it was necessary to test real components of the vehicle, such as the springs, dampers, and the silentblocks, in order to obtain their real characteristics. A second model was created to validate the work by comparing with previous works. This second model has some simplifications from the previous one including linear components and high rigidities in suspension parameters. After validating these results, the application to the real vehicle was done, and the influence, much more complex in this scenario, was analyzed.