This investigation deals with the suspension of a lightweight medium-class vehicle for four passengers with a curb weight of 1000 kg. The suspension layout consists of a transversal leaf spring and is supported by an active air spring which is included in the damper. The lower control arms are replaced by the leaf spring ends. Active ride height control is introduced to compensate for different vehicle load states. Active steering is applied using electric linear actuators with steer-by wire design. Besides intense use of light material the inquiry should investigate whether elimination of suspension parts or a lighter component is concordant with the stability demands of the vehicle. The investigation is based on simulations obtained with MSC Software ADAMS/Car and Matlab. The suspension is modeled in Adams/Car and has to proof it's compliance in normal driving conditions and under extreme forces. Evaluation criteria are suspension kinematics and compliance such as camber, caster and toe change during wheel travel in different load states. Also the leaf spring deflection, anti-dive and anti-squat measures and brake force distribution are investigated. Based on a simplified version of the leaf spring suspension design a full vehicle model is created. The comparison between the suspension models evaluates the same basic suspension parameters to ensure the compliance. Additionally roll rate and understeer gradient are investigated. It can be shown that the vehicle equipped with transversal leaf spring instead of lower control arms fulfils the set kinematics and compliance requirements. Road holding performance is assured for normal driving conditions on public roads.

This thesis is focused on design of parabolic spring for a truck. Characteristics of the spring are designed with respect to loads during heavy braking. Thesis contains a brief summary of current truck suspension, the spring design and suggestion for testing methodology for longitudinal load.

No description available.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

A proposta deste estudo é fornecer uma visão íntegra e profunda da vida em fadiga de um material aço SAE 5160 para a fabricação de feixes de mola, cujo objetivo principal é otimizar o projeto deste componente na tentativa de reduzir custo e peso, para tanto, o aço SAE 5160 submetido aos processos de tratamento térmico e shot peening, através do levantamento de uma curva de fadiga pelo ensaio de flexão por três pontos. Apresenta também, os resultados obtidos na caracterização do material, como pôr a análise de tensões residuais por difração por raios-X, das microestruturas, da dureza e da composição química, visando o objetivo de identificar possíveis variáveis que possam influenciar nas características técnicas e interferir na vida à fadiga deste aço SAE 5160. Os ensaios realizados mostram o comprometimento da resistência à fadiga deste material, pois é possível verificar uma não homogeneidade nos valores de dureza, a presença de descarbonetação e variação nos valores de tensões residuais, invalidando as amostras na ordem de cinquenta por cento. Com os resultados obtidos no levantamento da curva de fadiga e dados coletados em campo, é demonstrado a validação das curvas de projeto. / The purpose of this study is to provide a full and deep view of fatigue life of a steel material SAE 5160 for the production of leaf springs, whose main objective is to optimize the design of this component in order to reduce cost and weight, therefore the SAE 5160 steel was subjected to the heat treatment processes, and shot peening, via a test fatigue curve by the three-point deflection test. It also presents the results obtained in the characterization of the material, how to put the analysis of residual stresses by X-ray diffraction, the microstructure, hardness and chemical composition, in order to identify potential variables that may influence the technical characteristics and interfere with the fatigue life of the SAE 5160 steel. The tests performed present reduced resistance to fatigue of the material; it is not possible to verify the homogeneity of hardness, the presence of decarburization and variation in the values of residual stresses, invalidating the samples in the order of fifty percent. With the results in the lifting of fatigue and data collected in the field curve, is present the validation of design curves.

A proposta deste estudo é fornecer uma visão íntegra e profunda da vida em fadiga de um material aço SAE 5160 para a fabricação de feixes de mola, cujo objetivo principal é otimizar o projeto deste componente na tentativa de reduzir custo e peso, para tanto, o aço SAE 5160 submetido aos processos de tratamento térmico e shot peening, através do levantamento de uma curva de fadiga pelo ensaio de flexão por três pontos. Apresenta também, os resultados obtidos na caracterização do material, como pôr a análise de tensões residuais por difração por raios-X, das microestruturas, da dureza e da composição química, visando o objetivo de identificar possíveis variáveis que possam influenciar nas características técnicas e interferir na vida à fadiga deste aço SAE 5160. Os ensaios realizados mostram o comprometimento da resistência à fadiga deste material, pois é possível verificar uma não homogeneidade nos valores de dureza, a presença de descarbonetação e variação nos valores de tensões residuais, invalidando as amostras na ordem de cinquenta por cento. Com os resultados obtidos no levantamento da curva de fadiga e dados coletados em campo, é demonstrado a validação das curvas de projeto. / The purpose of this study is to provide a full and deep view of fatigue life of a steel material SAE 5160 for the production of leaf springs, whose main objective is to optimize the design of this component in order to reduce cost and weight, therefore the SAE 5160 steel was subjected to the heat treatment processes, and shot peening, via a test fatigue curve by the three-point deflection test. It also presents the results obtained in the characterization of the material, how to put the analysis of residual stresses by X-ray diffraction, the microstructure, hardness and chemical composition, in order to identify potential variables that may influence the technical characteristics and interfere with the fatigue life of the SAE 5160 steel. The tests performed present reduced resistance to fatigue of the material; it is not possible to verify the homogeneity of hardness, the presence of decarburization and variation in the values of residual stresses, invalidating the samples in the order of fifty percent. With the results in the lifting of fatigue and data collected in the field curve, is present the validation of design curves.

A proposta deste estudo é fornecer uma visão íntegra e profunda da vida em fadiga de um material aço SAE 5160 para a fabricação de feixes de mola, cujo objetivo principal é otimizar o projeto deste componente na tentativa de reduzir custo e peso, para tanto, o aço SAE 5160 submetido aos processos de tratamento térmico e shot peening, através do levantamento de uma curva de fadiga pelo ensaio de flexão por três pontos. Apresenta também, os resultados obtidos na caracterização do material, como pôr a análise de tensões residuais por difração por raios-X, das microestruturas, da dureza e da composição química, visando o objetivo de identificar possíveis variáveis que possam influenciar nas características técnicas e interferir na vida à fadiga deste aço SAE 5160. Os ensaios realizados mostram o comprometimento da resistência à fadiga deste material, pois é possível verificar uma não homogeneidade nos valores de dureza, a presença de descarbonetação e variação nos valores de tensões residuais, invalidando as amostras na ordem de cinquenta por cento. Com os resultados obtidos no levantamento da curva de fadiga e dados coletados em campo, é demonstrado a validação das curvas de projeto. / The purpose of this study is to provide a full and deep view of fatigue life of a steel material SAE 5160 for the production of leaf springs, whose main objective is to optimize the design of this component in order to reduce cost and weight, therefore the SAE 5160 steel was subjected to the heat treatment processes, and shot peening, via a test fatigue curve by the three-point deflection test. It also presents the results obtained in the characterization of the material, how to put the analysis of residual stresses by X-ray diffraction, the microstructure, hardness and chemical composition, in order to identify potential variables that may influence the technical characteristics and interfere with the fatigue life of the SAE 5160 steel. The tests performed present reduced resistance to fatigue of the material; it is not possible to verify the homogeneity of hardness, the presence of decarburization and variation in the values of residual stresses, invalidating the samples in the order of fifty percent. With the results in the lifting of fatigue and data collected in the field curve, is present the validation of design curves.

Leaf springs are a part of the suspension system attached between the axle and the chassis of the vehicle to support weight and provide shock absorbing capacity of the vehicle. For more than half a century the leaf springs are being made of steel which increases the weight of the vehicle and is prone to rusting and failure. The current study explores the feasibility of composite leaf spring to reduce weight by designing, manufacturing and testing the leaf spring for the required load cases. An off the shelf leaf spring of Ford F-150 is chosen for making of composite hybrid spring prototype. The composite hybrid prototype was made by replacing all the leaves with glass fiber unidirectional laminate except the first leaf. Fatigue tests are then done on steel and composite hybrid leaf spring to observe the failure locations and mechanism if any. High frequency fatigue tests were then done on composite beams with varying aspect ratio in a displacement-controlled mode to observe fatigue location and mechanism of just glass fiber composite laminate. It was observed that specimens with low aspect ratio failed from crack propagation initiated from stress concentrations at the loading tip in 3-point cyclic flexure test and shear forces played a dominant role in propagation of crack. Specimens with high aspect ratio under the same loading did not fail in cyclic loading and preserved the same stiffness as before the cyclic loading. The preliminary fatigue results for high aspect ratio composite beams predict a promising future for multi-leaf composite springs.

La suspension CRONE Hydractive, développée par l’équipe CRONE dans le cadre des suspensions de véhicules automobiles, présente des performances remarquables. En effet, l’association de l’approche CRONE, garantissant la robustesse du degré de stabilité aux variations de la masse suspendue, et de la stratégie Hydractive, permettant la commutation d’une architecture de suspension orientée confort vibratoire à une autre orientée comportement routier,permet la mise en défaut de la plupart des dilemmes inhérents aux architectures traditionnelles de suspension. La présente étude propose ainsi le développement d’une version alternative de la suspension CRONE par deux approches. Une première approche consiste en la mise en place d’une version passive métallique reposant sur l’utilisation des ressorts à lames en s’inscrivant dans une démarche de modernisation et d’optimisation des technologies historiques. La seconde approche, quant à elle, consiste à proposer le développement d’une version active pneumatique de la suspension CRONE. La modélisation complète de l’architecture « CRONE » orientée confort est alors proposée à travers celle de ses accumulateurs et gicleurs pneumatiques. Cette nouvelle version de suspension, en adoptant une technologie d’actualité de plus en plus répandue et pouvant bénéficier des développements du Véhicule Autonome Connecté, ouvre de nouvelles perspectives d’évolution de la suspension automobile. / The Hydractive CRONE car suspension developed by the CRONE team provides outstanding performances. Indeed, the CRONE method ensures the robustness of the stability degree with respect to variations of the sprung mass, while the Hydractive strategy enables the switchover between a comfort-oriented architecture and a road-behavior-oriented one. The association of the CRONE method with the Hydractive strategy allows to circumvent most of the dilemmas that occur with traditional architecture suspensions. The present study aims to develop an alternative version of the CRONE suspension using two approaches. A first approach consists of the implementation of a passive metallic version based on leaf springs aiming the modernisation and optimisation of historical technologies. The second one, however, involves the use of a more relevant and increasingly widespread technology with the development of an active pneumatic version of the CRONE suspension. The complete modeling of the ``CRONE'' comfort-oriented architecture is then proposed through its pneumatic accumulators and nozzles. This new version, benefiting from the pneumatic active system and from the development of the Autonomous Connected Vehicle, opens up new prospects for the development of car suspensions.

Neste trabalho foi desenvolvido o material e o processo de fabricação, que possibilitasse a fabricação de grampo de feixes de mola para veículos comerciais leves, médios e pesados, sem a necessidade de aplicação de tratamentos térmicos como têmpera e revenido. Assim, foram desenvolvidos/analisados cinco tipos de aço com adição de cromo, níquel e silício que possibilitassem a conformação a frio do grampo, garantindo as propriedades mecânicas requeridas pelos grampos, tais como: resistência à tração (900 MPa mín.), limite de escoamento (720 MPa mín.), alongamento(10% min.) e dureza(24-32 HRC). Os aços desenvolvidos exibiram uma microestrutura composta de grãos de perlita e ferrita, sendo que o tamanho de grão perlítico (ASTM) entre 9 a 11 foi obtido pela adição dos elementos de liga alumínio e vanádio que atuaram como refinadores de grão. A avaliação das propriedades mecânicas foram realizadas segundo a norma ASTM A-370 e os corpos de prova foram ensaiados em um sistema dinâmico MTS 810. As análises microestruturais dos aços, após a deformação a frio, foram realizadas por meio de microscopia ótica e eletrônica de varredura, com o objetivo de se identificar a deformação a frio nas áreas desejadas. A validação final do aço e do processo de fabricação do produto foi obtida após a conclusão do ensaio de fadiga que foi realizado em temperatura ambiente, sob carregamento cíclico tração-tração com R = 0,1 e freqüência de 30 Hz, onde a metodologia Probabilidade acumulada da falha (Weibull) foi utilizada para auxiliar na conclusão final do projeto. Foi observado que o aço tipo-4 com adição de cromo (0,21%) apresentou o melhor resultado em fadiga. / In this present work the steel and the production process was developed, in order to produce U-Bolts to light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, without any heat treatment, such as heating and tempering. Thus, this search of five types of steel with chrome, nickel and silicium addictions for the U-Bolts cold forming, assuring the mechanical properties required, as, strength (900 MPa min), yield stress (720 MPa min), elongation (10% min) and hardness (24-32 HRC). The developed steel exhibited a microstructure composed by perlite and ferrite, with the perlite grain size (ASTM) from 9 to 11, as aluminum and vanadium acted as grain size refiners. The evaluation of the mechanical properties was made according to ASTM A-370 and the samples tested in a dynamic system MTS 810. The microstructure analyses of the steel after cold forming were made using optical and scanning eletronic microscopic, in order to identify the cold forming process. For the steel and the production process validation a techniques fatigue test. They were carried out under a load-controlled (tensile-tensile), R = 0,1 and 30 Hz frequency, using the Weibull statistic method, to the final conclusion of he project. Type-4 steel with chrome addiction (0,21%) presented the best result in the fatigue test.