Ride Comfort Improvement of a Compact SUV Considering Driving Maneuver and Road Surface

In general, the ride and handling characteristics of a vehicle are strongly dependent on chassis parameters that come from the kinematic and compliance properties of a suspension system. For ride comfort improvement of a compact SUV with increasing handling performance simultaneously, this research proposes a new quantitative approach by considering various driving maneuvers and road surfaces. Particularly, five different road surfaces were used for ride comfort analysis, and this analysis was performed for two different vehicle speeds on a cleat road profile and three different vehicle speeds on a rough road profile. The contribution analysis of a suspension and a seat structure to ride comfort was investigated in order to decide an optimal structural combination. It was shown that contribution of each factor is different according to road profiles and driving conditions respectively. Moreover, the handling analysis was also performed to clarify significant factors at a cornering and braking maneuver. The significant ride comfort factors were ordered and compared on different road profiles, and then the influence of these factors on the handling performance under different driving maneuvers were also analyzed. Through quantitative vehicle testing and analytic simulation studies of ride and handling for the compact SUV base car and reference vehicles, this study shows that both ride comfort and handling performance can be improved for customer driving conditions using this new approach to the design of the chassis and seat structure of a compact SUV.