Sensitivity study of front suspension parameters in elastokinematics and handling behavior of a vehicle

There are many variables involved in the design of a front suspension, such as hardpoints' coordinates, steering geometry or even an anti-roll bar, which could make design difficult and time consuming. The MacPherson strut, due to the simplicity of its construction, less occupied space and low manufacturing cost, is widely used in vehicles in contrast to double wishbone and multi-link suspensions. Although its tuning process still demands time, it can be done with the aid of multibody dynamics simulations, by testing several configurations in a virtual way. In this work, a front suspension model with MacPherson strut is studied, so that the influence of variation of its parameters is analyzed in its elastokinematics behavior and in handling performance of a vehicle.