Design and Evaluation of a Suspension System with Variable Parameters

Suspension systems are designed for the increase in comfort and stability in vehicles while driving. Parameter changes in these systems affect overall performance. Researchers are continuously working on the performance enhancement of suspension systems by designing dampers of variable damping coefficient. In this research work a quarter car model suspension system was developed to demonstrate experimentally the influence of changing the damping coefficient, the stiffness, and the loading level to fully understand the allowable combination of parameters for a smoother ride. A variety of different test scenarios are implemented to the system to observe the variations in damping ratio. The damping ratio of the system found to be dependent on the design of the opening mechanism. The valve opening methods can give different results with the same parameters.