Development of Leaf Spring Kinematical Model and Its Applications in Improvement of Truck Braking and Steering Analysis

This paper presents a general kinematical model for all variety of leaf springs, including traditional laminated, asymmetrical, and tapered leaf springs, to calculate the longitudinal and winding deformations of axles during bouncing, braking and traction, which may introduce additional steering effects or variations of roll-steer property of a vehicle. Some experiments were introduced to verify the model. Accordingly, braking performance of a light truck has been improved.