An Analytical and Experimental Investigation of Friction and Gas Spring Characteristics of Racing Car Suspension Dampers

An analytical and experimental study is performed to determine the friction and gas spring characteristics of racing-vehicle suspension dampers. Analytical models are developed to characterize damper properties which include displacement and thermal sensitivities. The necessity of incorporating these models in the damper model is demonstrated. Analytical models are developed with the coefficients determined from experimental measurements. The coefficients for three candidate dampers are presented, and analyzed. Methods to reduce the impact of the thermal sensitivity of the gas spring on the ride height are presented.