Low steering effort is the basic requisite to proffer driver with drive comfort and easy maneuverability on turns. Various components in steering and suspension system play a vital role in determining the steering effort of vehicle. The discussion has been emphasized on static steering effort i.e. when vehicle is stationary and wheels are turned from lock to lock position.
There are various factors which affect the steering effort of a vehicle. Following are the high priority factors:
- 1
Steering Geometry.
- 2
Tyre static friction torque.
- 3
Friction among the steering linkages.
In this paper, the crucial factors which lead to difference in steering effort of RH and LH turn have been discussed in detail.
The Ackerman linkages have been optimized to show that the effective lengths of track arms along with pitman arm and steering arm for a specific turn angle is not the sole reason for difference in steering effort but the acceleration of linkages also play a vital role in this phenomenon. Acceleration analysis is used as a new technique to analyze the variation in steering effort among RH and LH turn. Difference between the acceleration of linkages during left and right turn along with the decrease in acceleration with increase in wheel cut angle is used as a key feature to optimize steering effort. Beside this, prime attention has been made to have optimized Ackerman error by optimizing the geometry.
Two case studies have been used to explain the above phenomenon of high steering effort in RH turn as compared to LH turn at the end of this paper.