Dynamic Experimental Analysis of a Mini-Baja Vehicle Front Suspension

This work presents a dynamical experimental stress and strain analysis of an off-road vehicle front suspension, which was developed in CEFET-RJ to the Mini-Baja / SAE-Brazil competition. Initially, a finite element model was developed to identify the critical points of the structure. Afterwards, electric strain gages were bonded at the most critical points to measure the dynamic strains due to an impact load. The data obtained through an A/D converter with an instrumentation software, was used to evaluate the maximum loads acting on the suspension. In this case, the success obtained with this method, indicates that it can be used as an effective tool for the design and improvement for Mini Baja vehicle.