Evaluating Effects of Roll Stiffness Change at Front and Rear Axles on Vehicle Maneuverability and Stability

To cater the push towards “Vehicle Light Weighting”, both sprung and unsprung mass are being reduced. This results in reduced stiffness and thus has a profound undesirable effect on the overall vehicle handling. To understand the effect of different reduction ratios of sprung to unsprung mass; it is desired to understand how changes in stiffness affect the overall vehicle handling characteristics. Therefore, the study was conducted to experiment with different values of roll stiffness, at both front and rear axles and comparing the frequency response and phase change of Yaw Gain observed through a Pulse Input test. The present work is further correlated with subjective feedback to predict the shift in vehicle balance and handling characteristics.