Target Cascading Kinematics and Compliance Tables to Suspension Design

During the initial design phase, automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) require the adaptability to examine various suspension system architectures while maintaining focus on the specific performance objectives. Those requirements are expressed by Kinematics and Compliance (K&C) look-up tables and represent the footprint of what the suspension should look like in real-world applications. However, translating those requirements into the full geometric hardpoint layout is not straightforward. This process often relies on trial-and-error approaches, making it time consuming and requiring significant expertise. This challenge, known as "target cascading," remains a major hurdle for many engineers. The main objective of this paper is to cascade the suspension requirements from K&C look-up tables to hardpoint locations by adopting an automatic workflow and ensuring respect for constructive and feasibility constraints. Design space exploration was conducted using a robust optimization methodology leveraging a Reduced-Order Model (ROM) of a MacPherson suspension. Feasible designs are ensured by incorporating physical constraints such as roll center variation, scrub radius range, tie rod inclination, packaging limitations and relative hardpoint influence. The usage of ROM significantly accelerates the optimization cycle, reducing the computation time from 2 days to 3 hours.