A Study of Influence of Suspension on Driveline Torque and Evaluation of Vehicle Anti-Squat/Dive Characteristics Using a Planar Vehicle Dynamics Model

Simplified vehicle dynamics models used to study the driveline durability are typically limited to the longitudinal dynamics and do not account for vertical and pitch dynamics. The influence of suspension on the vehicle ride and handling characteristics is studied extensively in the literature but its impact on the driveline torques is often not considered. In this paper, an effort is made to investigate the influence of suspension compliance on the driveline torque using a planar (longitudinal, pitch and vertical) vehicle dynamics model. An AWD vehicle is studied to understand its impact on the torque levels of both axles (primary and secondary). Subsequently the planar dynamics is explored in the context of anti-squat/anti-dive suspension. The primary focus of the paper is to predict the driveline torque. While more sophisticated suspension models are built and used to study the ride and handling characteristics of the vehicle, to the authors’ knowledge this is the first time, a model with this level of fidelity is used to evaluate driveline component durability.