Vehicle Suspension Characteristics Analysis

Figure 1 – Vehicle suspension as viewed from behind.

Problem

Analyze the ride comfort and other suspension characteristics of a 2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup truck on gravel and highway road surfaces at 15 MPH and 65 MPH.

Process

1. Calculate the vehicle’s steering wheel gradient, front and rear ride rates, natural frequencies, roll stiffnesses, roll gradient, and suspension damping ratio.
2. Mount an accelerometer to the vehicle, and measure the vehicle’s vertical acceleration while driving over gravel and highway asphalt at 15 MPH and 65 MPH.
3. Perform a Fast Fourier analysis of the accelerometer data using Microsoft Excel’s Fast Fourier Transform function.
4. Plot the frequency-domain vehicle body accelerations against the SAE and ISO ride comfort limits.

Product

Figure 2 – Calculated ride comfort (front axle).

Figure 3 – Calculated ride comfort (rear axle).

Figure 4 – Ride comfort on gravel at 15 MPH (frequency-domain).

Figure 5 – Ride comfort on asphalt at 65 MPH (frequency domain).