Title: A study on effects of roll moment distribution control in active suspension on improvement of limit performance of vehicle handling

Authors: Masato Abe

Addresses: Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Kanagawa Institute of Technology, 1030 Shimoogino, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa-ken 243-02, Japan

Abstract: A study on the effect of a roll moment distribution control (RDC) between the front and rear suspensions in the body levelling of active suspension on vehicle lateral/directional motion caused by near-limit performance manoeuvring was carried out. RDC distributes the active roll moments to the front and rear suspensions according to the spin and drift as defined in this study by considering vehicle motion in the phase plane, which causes variable lateral load transfer distribution and influences tyre side force saturation properties in the front and rear axles respectively and thus lateral/directional stability. The results of the analysis with computer simulation show conclusively that RDC is significantly contributive to giving vehicle motion with smaller side slip and keeping the motion out of lateral/directional instability - spinout or driftout - under hard manoeuvring conditions.

Keywords: active suspension; roll moment distribution control; RDC; vehicle design; vehicle handling; limit performance; active roll moments; lateral load transfer; simulation; vehicle motion; side slip; vehicle suspension; spinout; driftout.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1994.061865

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1994 Vol.15 No.3/4/5, pp.326 - 336

Published online: 28 May 2014 *

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