Suspension System

Suspension is a system in a vehicle that connects the wheel assembly or

unsprung mass to the chassis or sprung mass of the vehicle.
The main function of the suspension system is to act as a cushion to protect
the driver/passengers from shocks and bumps i.e. maintaining good ride
quality, while also providing proper handling to the vehicle.
Objectives while designing the suspension system for BAJA:
1. To maintain contact with wheel and ground at all time.
2. To provide good ride quality and also handling.
3. To avoid toppling or roll-over.
4. To provide maximum wheel travel to absorb the shocks.
5. Suspension should be adjustable.
Independent vs Dependent suspension
In dependent suspension, both the wheels on right and left side are connected.
This means movement of one wheel affects the other one. This is undesirable,
especially in off-road applications.
On the contrary, independent suspension allows each wheel to rise and fall on
its own. Hence it was decided to use independent suspension in both front as
well as rear.
Front Suspension
Available suspension types:
1. Double wishbone
2. Macpherson strut
Double wishbone was chosen instead of Macpherson Strut for the following
reasons:
1. Double wishbone provides negative camber in bump. This is very useful,
especially in cornering of vehicle.
2. It is more adjustable compared to Macpherson strut. Static camber or
caster angles can be adjusted easily.
Rear Suspension
Available suspension types:
1. Double wishbone
2. Macpherson strut
3. Trailing arm/ Semi trailing arm
4. Trailing arm with camber links
For rear suspension, we chose Trailing arm with camber links. The following
reasons were considered:
1. Macpherson strut and double wishbone were ruled out because of
interference issues with the drive train. Trailing/semi-trailing arm
provides for easy accessibility to the drive train system, which ensures
easy maintenance of drive train.
2. Semi trailing arm involves design simplicity, but does not have enough
camber gain compared to trailing arm with camber links.
3. The camber links provide an option to introduce negative camber I
trailing arm suspension. Also the camber links provide an option to
adjust static camber and toe angle.
Suspension specifications:
Parameters Front Rear
CG height 22 inches
Ground clearance 13 inches
Roll centre height 11.14 inch 13.81 inch
Motion ratio 0.52 0.70
Camber(deg.) Static: 0 Static: 0
Bump: -10 Bump: -9.8
Droop: 2.9 Droop: 7.8
Castor(deg.) 6 0
KPI 14 0
Scrub radius 37 mm --
Toe(deg.) Static: 0 Static: 0
Bump: 0.1 Bump: -1.8
Droop: 2.1 Droop: -4.91
Wheel centre travel Bump: 8 inches Bump: 7 inches
Droop: 4 inches Droop: 4 inches
Suspension(spring) Bump: 4.5 inches Bump: 5 inches
travel Droop: 2 inches Droop: 3 inches
Both front and rear suspension geometry were modelled in Lotus Shark
suspension design software. The location of mounting points and outboard
points were decided to optimise factors and parameters like camber change,
bump steer, castor angle, Ackerman percentage, etc
Lotus shark Modelling of front suspension:

Camber vs Suspension travel for front suspension:

Camber vs suspension travel for rear suspension:

Design of shocks (spring and dampers):

Custom made Coil-overs were chosen for both front and rear. The spring rate
was calculated based on the quarter-car model, using the sprung mass of the
vehicle and weight distribution to calculate the spring rate based on the
desired ride frequency for an off-road vehicle.
Specifications:
Parameters Front Rear
Sprung mass 70 130
Unsprung mass 40 40
Ride frequency 2.1 Hz 2.3 Hz
Ride rate 6.09 N/mm 13.4 N/mm
Spring stiffness 22.5 N/mm 27.4 N/mm
Wire diameter 11 mm 13 mm
Outer diameter 80 mm 85 mm
Spring material EN 47 Spring steel
FOS 2.19 2.23
Eye to eye length 19 inches 20 inches
Design of uprights:
Material: Al 6065 was chosen for both rear and front uprights. It was chosen
based on factors like weight, yield strength and cost considerations.
CAD and FEA:
The uprights were modelled in Autodesk Inventor and FEA was carried out in
Ansys Workbench. The following results were obtained:
Front upright Factor of safety:

Rear Suspension Factor of safety: