Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Unsprung mass is a consideration in the design of a vehicle's suspension and the materials chosen for its components. Beam axle suspensions, in which wheels on opposite sides are connected as a rigid unit, generally have greater unsprung mass than independent suspension systems, in which the wheels are suspended and allowed to move separately.
Sprung and unsprung mass are shown. Sprung mass (or sprung weight), in a vehicle with a suspension, such as an automobile, motorcycle, or a tank, is the portion of the vehicle's total mass that is supported by the suspension, including in most applications approximately half of the weight of the suspension itself.
Ignoring the flexing of other components, a car can be modeled as the sprung weight, carried by the springs, carried by the unsprung weight, carried by the tires, carried by the road. Unsprung weight is more properly regarded as a mass which has its own inherent inertia separate from the rest of the vehicle. When a wheel is pushed upwards by a ...
The mass of the beam is part of the unsprung weight of the vehicle, hurting ride quality. The need for lateral location devices such as a Panhard rod or Watt's linkage adds more unsprung weight and partially offsets the beam axle's advantages in terms of simplicity, space efficiency, and cost.
Calculating this requires knowing the vehicle's sprung weight (total weight less the unsprung weight), the front and rear roll center heights, and the sprung center of gravity height (used to calculate the roll moment arm length). Calculating the front and rear sprung weight transfer will also require knowing the roll couple percentage.
Independent suspension typically offers better ride quality and handling characteristics, due to lower unsprung weight and the ability of each wheel to address the road undisturbed by activities of the other wheel on the vehicle. Independent suspension requires additional engineering effort and expense in development versus a beam or live axle ...
Swing axle suspensions often used leaf springs and shock absorbers, though later Mercedes-Benz applications used coil springs and the VW beetle swing axle was torsion bar sprung. One problem inherent in the swing axle concept is that it almost inevitably results in a very high roll centre which causes detrimental jacking effects and camber ...
Weight transfer occurs as the vehicle's CoM shifts during automotive maneuvers. Acceleration causes the sprung mass to rotate about a geometric axis resulting in relocation of the CoM. Front-back weight transfer is proportional to the change in the longitudinal location of the CoM to the vehicle's wheelbase, and side-to-side weight transfer ...