Design and Analysis of a Tractor-Trailer Cabin Suspension

This paper presents the work done to overcome the ride problem of a Tractor-trailer vehicle. Ride of any vehicle can be improved by maintaining the low frequency of its suspension. The typical target frequencies for a car are 1-1.5 Hz whereas for a truck, it is 2-2.5 Hz. In heavy commercial vehicles, load carrying capacity is an important selling parameter, which does not allow softening the suspension beyond a limit. A unique four-point suspension has been designed to achieve the low ride frequencies of the cabin to improve the ride comfort. This paper describes some of the insight and knowledge gained from the effort to lead cabin suspension design for a heavy commercial vehicle.