Axiomatic Design of Automotive Suspension Systems

This paper presents kinematic design methodology of a suspension system using Axiomatic Design (AD). AD is applied to typical three types of the front suspension systems: McPherson strut, double wishbone and multilink. Our study includes the analysis of the functional independencies of current suspension design configurations, which would add to the understanding of how various suspension hardpoints influence the suspension functional requirements (FRs). In addition, this paper also proposes sequential design orders in suspension kinematic design to satisfy all of the suspension FRs. Of the current kinematic designs, the multilink is a decoupled design, whereas McPherson strut and double wishbone are coupled designs. It is shown that a coupled design can be decoupled by applying the independence axiom. The design matrices formulated for the suspension systems indicate a specific design order to satisfy all FRs.