Modeling Different Configurations for a Front Suspension of an Off-Road Vehicle Mini-Baja

In order to resist impact loadings that usually occurs in an off-road circuit an integrated approach of mechanical design is developed to obtain an optimized vehicle suspension. Efforts were made to model a front suspension, type double A of an off-road vehicle Mini-Baja. The focus was stressed in the transmissibility of mechanical forces through front suspension. A simple analytic model was done to esteem the reactions generated at points of linkage of suspension and structure of Mini-Baja, during a transient impact load. Numerical simulation softwares were also used to visualize dynamic behavior of different front suspension configurations. Finally experimental test was done with data acquisition system, with the use of load cells, to generate a reference data to compare analytic and numerical models.