Computerized simulations of the vibrational influence of road imperfections for different suspension configurations on the performance of Georgia southern university's 2014 formula SAE car suspension system

The focus of this study is to mitigate the effects of road imperfections in the performance of GSU's 2014 Formula SAE car through computerized full vehicle simulations. Research and development of the vehicle components is one of the key evaluation measures used by FSAE inside the competition. The elevated costs of suspension design via trial-and-error cannot be handled by the team due to budgeting issues. MSC's ADAMS/car software provided the team with an inexpensive way for testing different suspension configurations with the goals of achieving better performance ratings at the 2014 FSAE competition. Road imperfections can lead to loss of vehicle's traction, which has a direct effect on the vehicle's performance. For this study, four different combinations, or cases, of front and rear suspension configurations were evaluated when reacting to a 10 mm bump and pothole road imperfections at 20 KPH. The subsystems selected included one front and rear suspension with the shock absorber located above the perpendicular plane of the upright, as well as one front and one rear suspension with the shock absorber located below the same perpendicular plane. The results showed that besides the different suspension configurations showed underdamped behavior due to several deflection peaks. The case involving a front shock absorber located under the perpendicular plane of the upright (underhead) provided better traction due to less disturbance time. The deflections for the front suspension reached maximums at 1.7 mm for the 10 mm bump and 1 mm for the 10 mm pothole. The rear suspension with the upper-positioned (overhead) shock absorber showed a maximum deflection at 1.2 mm but it obtained a shorter rebound time. The results indicated that the suspension configuration involving the front suspension with the lower-positioned shock absorber and rear suspension with the upper-positioned shock absorber was the most effective when mitigating the effects of the road imperfections on the vehicle's performance. With this information GSU's Eagle Motorsports team was able to design the suspension system for their 2014 model and saving time and funding for testing of other key components of their vehicle.