Abstract
In recent years, we needed to develop a new design method of suspension such that we can achieve high performance in a short period concerning both ride comfort and handling which are the fundamentals of vehicle. In this paper, we introduced a part of our suspension design technology having been developed and used in our company, applying the Principal Elastic Axes. These axes consist of three translational axes and three rotational ones, which have stiffness only for each direction. By applying the Principal Elastic Axes to suspension, we were able to reduce a number of parameters of it and to think ahead the suspension movement totally and easily. Consequently we were able to optimize suspension bushing stiffness and arrangement of suspension geometry in a short time, and confirmed the effect in test vehicles.
Keywords - suspension design, compliance characteristics, stiffness matrix, principal elastic axis, optimization