Abstract
Keywords - Shock absorber, vehicle dynamics, suspension, multibody, co-simulation
Abstract - The objective of this article is to show how AP Amortiguadores compares the behaviour of different shock absorber technologies, focusing on the effect that the different hydraulic characteristics have on the final performance of the vehicle.
The simulations used to study the vehicle dynamics are usually carried out using a multibody program in which the vehicle is subjected to different manoeuvres. In this type of simulation, the shock absorber is a component defined by constant damping or, more accurately, by a non-linear filiform curve.
The disadvantage of this methodology is that when a real shock absorber is installed in the vehicle, the performance is always slightly different to what had been anticipated, because, among other things, it is affected by hydraulic phenomena that cannot be reflected by a filiform curve.
AP Amortiguadores utilises a multibody simulation program with open architecture, which enables it to connect, not only with other simulation programs, but also with a non-linear hysteretic hydraulic simulation program, and in this way, the co-simulation hydraulic-dynamic multibody can be carried out.
The simulation using this technique has two very important aspects. Firstly, the hydraulic effects of the inner components inside the shock absorber are taken into account in the vehicle performance. Secondly, the conditions are more fully appreciated at each instant of the different manoeuvres.
As such, a dual objective is established. On the one hand, the dynamic simulation of the vehicle is more precise, making it possible to know beforehand how each shock absorber technology affects the vehicle performance. On the other hand, the selection of shock absorber technology is enhanced with new data coming from the vehicle dynamics.
In this article, some examples of shock absorber technologies are studied. The results will show the strong and weak points of each technology always from the point of view of the vehicle performance. Also, the experimental results will be shown and contrasted with the simulation results. In this way, the validity of the models used can be judged.
The combined simultaneous hydraulic-multibody dynamic simulation might be considered very complex for the initial stages of the vehicle definition, but it enables problems, which would otherwise appear in future stages of development, to be pre-empted.