| In recent years there have been significant advances made in techniques for improving the handling characteristics of road vehicles. All of these techniques have the same general goals: increased safety and vehicle performance with reduced driver effort. This research covers a newer and less common approach to improving vehicle performance.; By allowing the suspension to have variable geometry, controlled through the use of actuators that move the suspension attachment points in response to the dynamics of the vehicle, the handling characteristics can be altered. A dynamic simulation of a road vehicle equipped with such a suspension is conducted in order to evaluate its feasibility and benefits. The effect of moving the attachment points of the lower control arms of the suspension over relatively small distances in directions perpendicular to the main forces they carry is investigated.; Implementation of such a system would require compact, low-power actuators and would therefore be relatively inexpensive. The results presented here show a promising sensitivity of the vehicle response to even small motions of the attachment points.; Because of the relative novelty of the topic, the results gathered from research in other areas of vehicle dynamics and control are used as a foundation. Studies in four wheel steering and active roll control are particularly useful.; The research consists of developing the equations of motion of a multibody system, including the ability to vary the constraint geometry over time, and using this technique to model a vehicle with an actively controlled variable geometry suspension. |
