International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology E-ISSN 2277 – 4106, P-ISSN 2347 – 5161

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Research Article

Design and Analysis of an ATV Suspension System

Ashish Sangave* and Chaitanya Aurangabadkar

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Marathwada Mitra Mandal's College of Engineering, Karvenagar, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Accepted 02 Feb 2017, Available online 12 Feb 2017, Vol.7, No.1 (Feb 2017)

Abstract

An All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), as the name implies is a vehicle designed to handle a wider variety of terrain than most
other vehicles. Over the period ATVs have been used for performing number of applications ranging from military to
desert and jungle safaris. The efficacy of an ATV is determined on the basis of its ability to sustain the irregularities of
the terrain with ease. The system that implements the vital role of damping such undesired commotion and vibrations
is the suspension system. The suspension systems are mainly classified as dependent suspensions and independent
suspensions. A dependent suspension normally has a beam or live axle that holds wheels parallel to each other and
perpendicular to the axle. When the camber of one wheel changes, the camber of the opposite wheel changes in the
same way. An independent suspension allows wheels to rise and fall on their own without affecting the opposite
wheel. The front suspension and rear suspension of a vehicle can be different as per the application requirements. The
paper focuses on the designing, analysis and simulation of an ATV suspension system which was designed for a
national level event namely BAJA SAEINDIA.

Keywords: Wishbones, Trailing arms, Camber angle, Toe angle, Anti-dive, Structural analysis

Introduction does not exhibit any tendency to over-steer and

displays predictable transition behaviour for the
1 Automobiles were initially developed as self-propelled driver.
versions of animal drawn vehicles. However animal
drawn vehicles had been designed for relatively slow 1. Suspension Parameters
speeds and lacked a suspension system that could
withstand the higher speeds permitted by internal 1.1. Undamped System: Undamped systems are those
combustion engines. The suspension of modern in which there are no forces opposing the vibratory
vehicles need to satisfy a number of requirements motion to dissipate energy.
whose aims partly conflict because of different 1.2. Damped System: Damped systems are those in
operating conditions such as loaded/ unloaded, which energy is dissipated by forces opposing the
acceleration/ braking, constant/ variable terrain road, vibratory motion.
straight running/ cornering. For the purpose of 1.3. Damping Ratio: Damping ratio is the ratio of the
ensuring the optimum handling characteristics of the amount of viscous damping present in a system to that
vehicle in a steady state as well as in a transient state, required for critical damping. Where comfort takes
the wheels must be in a defined position with respect priority over performance, leading to low damping
to the road surface for the purpose of generating the ratios, and minimum pitching over bumps. Racecars in
necessary lateral forces. The build-up and size of the general run higher damping ratios, and have a much
lateral wheel forces are determined by specific toe and smaller concern for comfort, leading to some racecars
camber changes of the wheels depending on the jounce using higher front ride frequencies. The higher
and movement of the body as a result of the axle damping ratios will reduce the amount of oscillation
kinematics(roll steer) and operative forces(compliance resultant from road bumps, in return reducing the
steer). This makes it possible for specific operating need for a flat ride.
conditions such as load and traction to be taken into 1.4. Sprung weight and un-sprung weight: All weight
consideration. By establishing the relevant geometry which is supported by the suspension, including
and kinematics of the axle, it is also possible to prevent portions of the weight of the suspension members are
the undesirable diving or lifting of the body during regarded as sprung weight. Un-sprung weight includes
braking or accelerating and to ensure that the vehicle the suspension upright and all components attached to
it; the brake caliper, brake disc, wheel, tire and a
*Corresponding author: Ashish Sangave portion of suspension arms. Sprung weight is protected
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Ashish Sangave et al Design and Analysis of an ATV Suspension System

from the shocks and vibrations that the wheels 1.8. Toe Angle: When a pair of wheels is set so that
experience as they travel over every bump and pothole. their leading edges are pointed slightly towards each
This makes for a more comfortable ride and protects other, the wheel pair is said to have toe-in. If the
the sprung components from destructive and life- leading edges point away from each other, the pair is
shortening shocks and vibrations. Conversely, un- said to have toe-out. The amount of toe can be
sprung weight must be designed to be tough enough to expressed in degrees as the angle to which the wheels
survive the constant shocks and vibrations, which can are out of parallel, or more commonly, as the difference
be difficult for complex parts such as wireless pressure between the track widths as measured at the leading
sensors. In general, it’s best to have a high ratio of and trailing edges of the tires or wheels. Toe settings
sprung to un-sprung weight. A higher proportion of affect three major areas of performance: tire wear,
sprung weight can then push down on the wheels and straight-line stability and corner entry handling
tires with more force, keeping them in contact with the characteristics.
pavement or whatever surface they are traveling 1.9. Jounce(Bump): Jounce is the upward movement
across. Maintaining contact with the roadway improves or compression of suspension components. During
handling and traction, and this becomes more of an bump, the dampers and springs absorb the upward
issue for off-roading and traveling over rough roads. So movement from cornering or road irregularities (the
as a rule, designers try to minimize un-sprung weight springs store some of the energy), the dampers then
to improve handling and steering. goes into rebound. If there isn't enough damping then
1.5. Spring Rate: The change of load on a spring per the cycle begins again until the car returns to the
unit deflection is spring rate. To minimize the pitching original ride height, with a bouncing motion to the car.
motion of vehicle, the equivalent spring rate and the Another trait of under damping is that loads go into
natural frequency of the front end should be slightly tire and suspension relatively slowly, this combined
less than those of the rear end. This ensures that both with the bouncing effect means a constant varying
ends of the vehicle will move in phase within a short downward force on tires. It is important to have
time after the front end is excited. enough bump stiffness to be able to deal with uneven
1.6. Camber Angle: Camber is the angle of the wheel surfaces. If there is too much damping, then it is
relative to vertical line to the road, as viewed from the effectively like running no suspension and any upward
front or the rear of the car. If the top of the wheel is motion will be transmitted directly to the chassis. Over
farther out than the bottom (that is, away from the damping will result in an increase in the loads acting
axle), it is called positive camber; if the bottom of the on the suspension and the tires. The handling will feel
wheel is farther out than the top, it is called negative very harsh and hard, this will affect street driving in
camber. The cornering force that a tire can develop is terms of comfort levels, this might not be desired for a
highly dependent on its angle relative to the road daily driver. It is undesirable in both under and over
surface, and so wheel camber has a major effect on the damping settings, as it will reduce the handling of the
road holding of a car. A tire develops its maximum car and will affect acceleration, braking and cornering
lateral force at a small camber angle. This fact is due to loads.
the contribution of camber thrust, which is an 1.10. Rebound (Droop): Rebound is the downward
additional lateral force generated by elastic movement or extension of suspension components.
deformation as the tread rubber pulls through the During rebound (following the bump compression
tire/road interface. phase) the dampers extend back to their original
1.7. Caster Angle: It is the Forward or rearward positions, using up the stored energy from the springs.
inclination of the steering axis. The rebound stiffness needs to be set at a higher value
1.7.1. Positive Caster: Positive caster is when the than the bump setting as the stored energy is being
steering axis is in front of the vertical. The purpose of released. If there is no effect of damping on the
this is to provide a degree of self-centering for steering rebound, the wheel will quickly return through the
the wheel casters around, so as to trail behind the axis static level and start to bump again, with the bouncing
of steering. This makes a car easier to drive and effect unsettling the suspension with little control. If
improves its directional stability (reducing its tendency there is too much rebound stiffness, then the wheel
to wander). Excessive caster angle will make the could hold longer in the wheel arch than needed,
steering heavier and less responsive, although, in effectively losing contact with the road as the force to
racing, large caster angles are used to improve camber push the wheel back down is slower to respond to the
gain in cornering. Power steering is usually necessary changing surface levels. This state is again far from
to overcome the jacking effect from the high caster ideal and it is best to make sure a good level is set for
angle. optimal tire contact with road.
1.7.2. Negative Caster: Negative caster is when the 1.11. Suspension Roll: The rotation of the vehicle
steering axis is behind the vertical. This is generally sprung mass about the x-axis with respect to a
only found on older vehicles due to tire technology, transverse axis joining a pair of wheel centers.
chassis dynamics, and other reasons. Modern vehicles 1.12. Suspension Roll Gradient: The rate of change in
do not use negative caster. It will lighten the steering the suspension roll angle with respect to change in
effort but also increases the tendency for the car to steady-state lateral acceleration on a level road at a
wander down the road. given time and test conditions. The main factors
203| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.7, No.1 (Feb 2017)
Ashish Sangave et al Design and Analysis of an ATV Suspension System

affecting suspension roll gradient are instantaneous Just like anti-dive in the front suspension, there can be
center and tire data for inclination angles. anti-lift in the rear suspension that reduces rebound
1.13. Roll Camber: The change in camber of the travel under braking. There is also anti-squat in the
wheels due to relative motion of sprung mass with rear suspension under acceleration for rear-wheel-
respect to un-sprung mass is called as roll camber. It is drive cars.
the result of suspension roll. The basic wishbone is
such as to give about 50% compensation of roll camber 2. Design
by the basic geometry and 50% by the action of the
extra links, so that camber change is optimum. The design phase involves variety of fronts leading to
1.14. Roll Center and Roll axis: The roll axis is the one absolute design. Firstly, It involves determination
instantaneous line about which the body of a vehicle of desired system characteristics. Lotus Engineering
rolls. Roll axis is found by connecting the roll center of Suspension Analysis software was used to design and
the front and rear suspensions of the vehicle. Assume analyse the vehicle suspension hard points to achieve
we cut a vehicle laterally to disconnect the front and
the required suspension characteristics. The Computer
rear half of the vehicle. Then, the roll center of the front
or rear suspension is the instantaneous center of Aided Designing (CAD) was done using CATIA V5R21
rotation of the body with respect to the ground. with design for manufacturing and assembly
1.15. Motion Ratio: Motion ratio in suspension of a considerations. Then using ANSYS 15.0 we performed
vehicle describes the amount of shock travel for a given structural analysis of suspension systems in order to
amount of wheel travel. Mathematically it is the ratio of assure the flawless performance of our design.
shock travel and wheel travel. The amount of force 2.1. Design Targets
transmitted to the vehicle chassis reduces with 2.1.1. To isolate high amplitude obstacles by
increase in motion ratio. A motion ratio close to one is increasing travel.
desired in vehicle for better ride and comfort. One 2.1.2. To maintain the undamped natural frequency
should know the desired wheel travel of the vehicle
from 1.2Hz- 1.5Hz.
before calculating motion ratio which depends much
on the type of track the vehicle will run upon. 2.1.3. To implement anti-dive geometry.
1.16. Wheel travel: Wheel travel is the distance that is 2.1.4. To minimize the chassis roll by maintaining the
designed for the wheel/tire assembly to move roll gradient in the range of 1.50-20/g.
vertically without bottoming out either at the top or 2.2. Lotus Suspension Analysis(LSA): LSA is a design
the bottom of the motion. The suspension's job is to and analysis tool that can be used for both the initial
ensure that despite any bumps or droops, the vehicle layout of a vehicle and suspension hard points. Models
stays as leveled and smooth as possible. While wheel are created and modified through a 3d-viewing
travel is measured on both independent and solid axle environment. This allows hard points to be ‘dragged’
suspensions, it is mostly referred to with independent on screen and graphical/numerical results updated in
suspension where the vertical travel of each wheel/tire
‘real time’. A template-based approach to the modelling
assembly is separate from any of the others, and
therefore best able to provide that smooth ride and allows users to create their own suspension models,
safe driving experience. supplementing the ‘standard’ suspension templates
1.17. Anti-dive: Anti-dive is a suspension parameter provided. Any number of results can be displayed
that affects the amount of suspension deflection when graphically, (e.g. Camber angle, Toe angle), against
the brakes are applied. When a car is decelerating due bump motion, roll motion or steering motion. These
to braking there is a load transfer off the rear wheels results are updated in ‘real time’ as the suspension
and onto the front wheels proportional to the center of hard points are moved.
gravity height, the deceleration rate and inversely
proportional to the wheelbase. If there is no anti-dive
present, the vehicle suspension will deflect purely as a
function of the wheel rate. This means only the spring
rate is controlling this motion. As anti-dive is added, a
portion of the load transfer is resisted by the
suspension arms. The spring and the suspension arms
are sharing the load in some proportion. If a point is
reached called “100-percent anti-dive”, all of the load
transfer is resisted by the suspension arms and none is
carried through the springs. When this happens there
is no suspension deflection due to braking and no
visible brake dive. There is still load transfer onto the
wheels, but the chassis does not pitch nose down. The
method to achieve anti-dive is controlled by upper and
lower control arm pivot points on chassis. Fig.1 Front suspension hard points
204| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.7, No.1 (Feb 2017)
Ashish Sangave et al Design and Analysis of an ATV Suspension System

Table.2 Rear suspension parameters

Parameter Value
Wheel Travel 7 inch(Bump),
4.4 inch(Droop)
Camber -50(Bump), -4.50(Droop)
Toe 1.20(Bump), -1.60(Droop)
Static Ride Height 10.5 inch
Motion Ratio 0.709
Natural Frequency 1.38 Hz

Camber
Angle
(Degrees)
8
6
4
2
Wheel
Fig.2 Rear suspension hard points 0 Travel (mm)
-200 -100 0 100 200
-2

2.3. Front Suspension: We selected Short Long Arm -4

-6
(SLA) type wishbone front suspension. This suspension Front
-8
system consists of upper and lower wishbones. Both
-10 Rear
the wishbones were designed in A-arm shape with its
narrow end joining the knuckle with ball joints and the
wishbone was connected to the chassis at two pivots Toe Angle
(Degrees)
with heim joints. The suspension system was designed
2
in such a way that the tires remain oriented properly in 1.5
all modes of motion. This design provided an optimized 1
wheel control and maximum camber gain during 0.5
Wheel Travel
cornering. The system is equipped with FOX 0 (mm)
-200 -100 -0.5 0 100 200
progressive air shocks which gives us a better -1
performance due to its variable stiffness. The system -1.5
allows adjusting the geometry of the arms and their -2
mounting locations for fine tuning of performance -2.5 Front
-3
characteristics. Rear
-3.5

Table.1 Front suspension parameters

Parameter Value Fig.3 Graphical representation of camber angle and toe

Wheel Travel 6 inch(Bump), 4 inch(Droop) angle variation over the wheel travel of front and rear
Camber -1.60 (Bump), -0.20 (Droop) suspension systems respectively from Lotus
Toe 1.290 (Bump), 0.70 (Droop) Suspension Analysis
Static Ride Height 12 inch
Motion Ratio 0.608 3. Finite Element Analysis
Natural Frequency 1.30 Hz
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a computerized
2.4. Rear Suspension: The Trailing Arms (TA) were method for predicting how a product reacts to real
opted for rear suspension system. The system world forces, vibrations, heat, fluid flow, and other
consisted of trailing arm along with camber links. The physical effects. Finite element analysis shows whether
trailing arm had one end attached to the chassis with a product will break, wear out, or work the way it was
heim joint and other end attached at knuckle with designed. It is called analysis, but in the product
pivot system using nuts and bolts. The camber links development process, it is used to predict what is going
provide the ability to control the undesired camber to happen when the product is used.
change by restricting the lateral motion of the upper EA works by breaking down a real object into a
and lower ends of the wheels. The two camber links large number (thousands to hundreds of thousands) of
are connected one at the lower end of the TA and other finite elements, such as little cubes. Mathematical
at the upper end of the TA, also the respective opposite equations help predict the behavior of each element. A
ends are joined to the chassis. Camber link is joined at computer then adds up all the individual behaviors to
each end with heim joints. The trailing arms design predict the behavior of the actual object.
provides better wheel travel and has the advantages of In order to validate the quality of our design we
being durable, strong and easy to design for a desired performed finite element analysis with the help of
amount of travel and static camber. ANSYS workbench 15.0. In the results that we
205| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.7, No.1 (Feb 2017)
Ashish Sangave et al Design and Analysis of an ATV Suspension System

obtained, the yield stresses were below the ultimate Conclusions

stresses under worst case circumstances. Thus
assuring the caliber of our design. 1) The illustrated Short Long Arm type wishbone
The structural analysis of the wishbones and the suspension design provides efficient handling during
trailing arms were carried out by considering 3g forces cornering and optimized wheel control.
and air shocks bottomed out. 2) The designed Trailing Arm with two camber links
provide desired wheel travel and static camber.
3) The obtained wheel travel(front=10in, rear=11.4in)
avails isolation from high amplitude obstacles.
4) The designed suspension system maintains
undamped natural frequency of 1.3 Hz and 1.38 Hz at
front and rear respectively.
5) The quality of the design was assured by
performing FEA which portrayed deformation and
equivalent stresses well within the desired range.

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206| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.7, No.1 (Feb 2017)