Terrain-configurable suspension

Honors thesis, 2016

For my honours thesis at the University of Victoria, I developed an idea for an inboard vehicle suspension that could be mechanically adjusted for enthusiast use on both paved surfaces and off-road terrain.

Actions:

Equations of motion were developed for the inboard suspension of an existing road-going enthusiast car. This geometry was modeled in Excel and systematically optimized to find the suspension component with the greatest effect on motion ratio, with the goal of increasing wheel travel for off-road use. After isolating the most effective component, I created a multi-variable optimizing Excel macro in order to find the ideal geometry for off-road use. A design was then created for an adjustable version of that suspension component.

Results:

Analysis showed that by replacing the original suspension component with one of the adjustable design, the existing car could be adjusted from its on-road optimized original form to an off-road optimized configuration. In the off-road configuration, wheel travel was increased by nearly 65%. The geometry retained a progressive motion ratio, a suspension sag of approximately 40%, and a ride height increase of 6mm.

This thesis was well-received and achieved an A+ grade.

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