A design optimization methodology for the front suspension of the 2007 Cooper Union mini Baja SAE vehicle

The 2007 Cooper Union Baja SAE team overhauled the design process of its vehicle from previous years. The vehicle was broken down into several subsystems, and they were each delegated to individual teams. This thesis is a documentation of the front suspension subsystem design methodology. It describes the theoretical application of suspension kinematic and dynamic concepts as applied to off-road vehicles. Due to the limited nature of off-road suspension resources, racing vehicle principles had to be adapted for this specific application. Using these analyses, the front suspension was designed using virtual prototyping software, such as Solidworks. This greatly reduced design iteration time and, ultimately, assembly time and cost. Software packages were also used to analyze these models to define their behavior and response characteristics; this included the use of Cosmos Motion and MATLAB. Upon completion of design and analysis, Cosmos Works finite element analysis software was used to ensure the safety of the suspension components before fabrication. All steps of design and fabrication are detailed and recorded in this thesis so as to aid future teams and streamline their vehicle design processes. The overarching goal of this thesis is to provide future teams with groundwork to build upon in the future. It is not only the intention of this work to educate readers on front suspension design, but also to provide opportunity for improvement upon the methodologies developed throughout and allow for continued work in the field of suspensions at Cooper Union.