Compliance Matrix Based Design and Analysis of Suspension Toe Behavior for Virtual Chassis Development The Elastic Steering Axis and Toe Neutral Point for the Characterization of Suspension Toe Behavior

In the chassis development process, the use of simulations to characterize suspension systems in the early development stage reduces time-consuming and costly iterations. During suspension design, characteristic values enable the evaluation of suspension systems. However, a number of these values only refers to steering feedback. The elastic steering axis and corresponding characteristic values regarding toe behavior have not been considered or studied in detail yet. An innovative methodology to characterize and evaluate the toe behavior of suspension systems based on new characteristic values within multi-body simulation is presented. The respective characteristic values are calculated from the suspension system's compliance matrix. The influence of the steering system and suspension concept as well as the dependency on various load cases are investigated. The objective is to improve the design of suspension systems by gaining further insights. The results show that steering stiffness, suspension concept and load case have a significant influence on the elastic steering axis. This approach can be used to analyze and evaluate the toe behavior of all types of suspension systems by means of characteristic values.