Kinematic Analysis of Brake-Induced Vehicle Steering Wheel Vibration

Abstract

Vehicle steering comfort is strongly influenced by chassis system sensitivity to brake-induced vibration. If drivers feel vibration on the steering wheel during a braking event, it negatively impacts their satisfaction with a vehicle’s performance and quality. The suspension is the primary chassis sub-system that transmits vibration from the brakes to the rest of vehicle. Since the suspension system is directly linked with the brake, tire/wheel assembly, sub-frame and steering system, its coupled vibration is very complicated. The current paper presents a sensitivity study of chassis system vibration distribution, a vibration reduction proposal with traditional vibration approach and a vibration reduction proposal with a kinematic design strategy. A system integration approach is used to derive an improvement strategy that can potentially make a vehicle insensitive to the vibration caused by torque variation of the brakes. The approach links suspension, steering and sub-frame vibration characteristics, kinematics modeling and robust design principles in a systematic fashion. The concept and method have been successfully demonstrated on a typical mid-size passenger car.