The Equivalent Elastic Mechanism: a Tool for the Analysis and the Design of Compliant Suspension Linkages

A methodology is presented for the design of vehicle suspension systems that vastly reduces the iteration required to achieve a given elasto-kinematic performance target. At the heart of the technique is the concept of an Equivalent Elastic Mechanism (EEM); a simple and intuitive mechanism, which can always be configured to replicate perfectly the elasto-kinematic behaviour of any compliant linkage, irrespective of its complexity.

The paper describes the concept of the EEM, its derivation and different methods for its visualisation. Furthermore, it shows how an “ideal” EEM can also be calculated from an elasto-kinematic specification and how this EEM can be used to select and configure an appropriate suspension architecture.