LECTURE TOPIC

STEADY-STATE CORNERING

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CHAPTER OUTLINES
1. Introduction
2. Low Speed Turning
3. High Speed Turning
4. Suspension Effect on Cornering

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 1. INTRODUCTION

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1. INTRODUCTION
And, in this topic, the important aspects to
understand regarding steady-state turning are the:
1. Steer angle (Ackerman angle)
2. Off-tracking
3. Understeer gradient (Self-steering gradient)
4. Neutral steer
5. Understeer
6. Oversteer
7. Lateral acceleration
8. Lateral force or cornering force and
9. Slip angles
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1. INTRODUCTION
And these components of steady-state turning
will be studied into two cases:
1. At low-speed turning and
2. At high-speed turning

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1. INTRODUCTION
What is steady state?
What is cornering/turning?
Then, what is steady state cornering?
What is Loop?

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1. INTRODUCTION
Steady-state
 Steady-state - A stable condition that does not
change over time or in which, change in one
direction is continually balanced by change in
another.
 These stable conditions can be a constant -
radius path at a constant speed with a constant
steering wheel angle on a flat and level surface

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1. INTRODUCTION

So, what is loop?

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1. INTRODUCTION
Loop
In principal, there are two loops, the open loop
and closed loop.

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1. INTRODUCTION
Open Loop & Closed Loop
 Open loop – The vehicle only is an “open-loop"
system. It refers to vehicle response to specific
steering inputs, and is more precisely defined
as "directional response" behavior.
 Closed loop - The driver and vehicle is a
"closed-loop" system - meaning that the driver
observes the vehicle direction or position and
corrects his/her input to achieve the desired
motion.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Open Loop & Closed Loop
 So, in this topic, “open-loop” cornering or
directional response behavior, will be examined
starting with turning behavior at low speed
and then consider the differences that arise
under high-speed conditions.

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 2. LOW-SPEED TURNING

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
Low-Speed Turning
 The first step to understand cornering is to
analyze the low-speed turning behavior of a
motor vehicle.
 At low speed (parking lot maneuvers) the tyres
need not to develop lateral forces.
 Thus, they roll with no slip angle, and the
vehicle must negotiate a turn as illustrated in
Figure
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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING

Geometry of a turning vehicle.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING

Geometry of a turning vehicle.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 If the rear wheels have no slip angle, the center
of turn must lie on the projection of the rear
axle.
 Likewise, the perpendicular from each of the
front wheels should pass through the same
point (the center of turn).
 If they do not pass through the same point, the
front tires will "fight" each other in the turn,
with each experiencing some scrub (sideslip) in
the turn.
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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 For proper geometry in the turn (assuming
small angles), the steer angles are given by:

L L
o  and  i 
( R  t / 2) ( R  t / 2)
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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 The average angle of the front wheels (again
assuming small angles) is defined as the
Ackerman Angle:
The terms "Ackerman
  L/R Steering" or
"Ackerman
Geometry" are often
used to denote the
exact geometry of the
front wheels as shown
in that Figure.
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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 The correct angles are dependent on the:
- Wheelbase of the vehicle and
- Radius of turn.
 With correct Ackerman geometry, the steering
torques tend to increase consistently with steer
angle, thus providing the driver with a natural
feel in the feedback through the steering wheel.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 The other significant aspect of low-speed
turning is the off-tracking that occurs at the
rear wheels.

What is Off-Tracking?

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
Off-tracking
 Off-trackingis said to occur when a vehicle
makes a turn and its rear wheels do not follow
the same path as its front wheels.
 The magnitude of this generally increases with
the spacing between the axles of the vehicle and
decreases for larger radius turns.
 Off-tracking is considered in determining the
extent to which roadway geometrics would be
designed.
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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 There are two types of off-tracking: low-speed
and high-speed.
 Low-Speed Off-tracking occurs when a
combination vehicle makes a low-speed turn -
for example a 90-degree turn at an intersection
- and the wheels of the rearmost trailer axle
follow a path several feet inside the path of the
tractor steering axle.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 The following figure illustrates low-speed
offtracking in a 90-degree turn for a tractor-
semitrailer.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 Excessive low-speed off-tracking makes it
necessary for the driver to swing wide into
adjacent lanes when making a turn to avoid
climbing inside curbs, striking curbside fixed
objects or other vehicles.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 High-Speed Off-tracking results from the
tendency of the rear of the truck to move
outward due to the lateral acceleration of the
vehicle as it makes a turn at higher speeds.
 The following figure illustrates high-speed off-
tracking for a standard tractor-semitrailer.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 So, the speed-dependent component of off-
tracking is primarily a function of:
- The spacing between truck axles
- The speed of the truck, and
- The radius of the turn
 It is also dependent on the loads carried by the
truck axles and the truck suspension
characteristics.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 So, the off-tracking distance, Δ, may be calculated
from simple geometry relationships as:

  R1 cos(L/R)
 By a series expansion of the cosine, the expression is
simplified to become:

2
L

2R
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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING
 So,for obvious reasons, off-tracking is
primarily of concern with long-wheelbase
vehicles such as trucks and buses.
 For articulatedtrucks, the geometric equations
become more complicated and are known as
"tractrix" equations.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING

Let us now turn to high-

speed situations.

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2. LOW-SPEED TURNING

What do we recall regarding

lateral forces and slip
angles at low-speed
turning?

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 2. HIGH-SPEED TURNING

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
High-Speed Cornering
 At high speed, the turning equations differ
because lateral acceleration will be present.
 To counteract the lateral acceleration the tires
must develop lateral forces. Also, slip angles
will be present at each wheel.
 So,let us now analyse those aspects under high-
speed turning

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Let us now look a little bit on

the tyre behaviour starting
by looking what is slip angle
and cornering stiffness.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 When a rolling pneumatic tyre is subjected to
lateral force, the tyre will drift to the side. An
angle will be created between the direction of
tyre heading and the direction of travel.
 This is known as slip angle.
 The mechanisms responsible can be
appreciated by considering the simplied
illustration of the tyre’s behaviour as shown in
the next figure

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

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3. HIGH-SPEED TURNING
 Diagram shows a tyre
undergoing lateral forces. The
area "A" shows where the
force (slip) is being generated.
 Slipwill occur at a much lower
value on a wet or damp track
than on a dry flat surface.

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3. HIGH-SPEED TURNING
Slip
 Slipis generally recognised as the
point at which a tyre, under harsh
cornering or braking, loses its
adhesion at the contact patch.
 Different tyres will, according to
tread pattern and compound,
have different levels of slip and
this is also affected by road
surface.
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 3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Tyre Cornering Force  Under cornering
conditions, in which the
tire must develop a
lateral force, the tyre
will also experience
lateral slip as it rolls.
 The angle between its
Tire cornering force direction of heading and
its direction of travel is
properties.
known as slip angle, α.
These are as illustrated
in that figure.
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

 The lateral force, denoted by Fy is called the

"cornering force" when the camber angle is
zero. At a given tyre load, the cornering force
grows with slip angle. At low slip angles (5
degrees or less) the relationship is linear, hence,
the cornering force, Fy is described by:
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

The proportionality constant, Cα, is known as

the "cornering stiffness" and is defined as the
slope of the curve for Fy, versus α at α = 0.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Applied Force
Spring Stiffness 


Deflection

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 We recall when we were working with the TLA, that:
and

Therefore,

Where:
Tspf – Roll torque on the front suspension
Tspr – Roll torque on the rear suspension
K𝜙f – Front suspension roll stiffness
K𝜙r – Rear suspension roll stiffness
K𝜙 – Total roll stiffness
𝜙 – Roll angle (or twist angle)
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 It is used to compare the cornering behaviour
of different tyres.
 A positive slip angle produces a negative force
(to the left) on the tyre, implying that Cα must
be negative.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 The cornering stiffness is dependent on many
variables.
- Tyre type – Radial or bias-ply construction –
number of plies, cord angles, wheel width and tread
design
- Tyre size and width
 For agiven tyre, the load and inflation pressure are
the main variables.
 Speeddoes not strongly influence the cornering forces
produced by a tire.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Variables affecting tire cornering stiffness.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 Because of the strong dependence of cornering
force on load, tire cornering properties may
also be described by the "cornering
coefficient" which is the cornering stiffness
divided by the load. Thus the cornering
coefficient, CCα, is given by:

CC 
C
Fz
N y / N z / deg 
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Cornering Equations
 The steady-state cornering equations are
derived from the application of Newton's
Second Law along with the equation describing
the geometry in turns (modified by the slip
angle conditions necessary on the tires).

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 For purposes of analysis, it is convenient to
represent the vehicle by the bicycle model as
shown in this figure.

Cornering of a bicycle model.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 For a vehicle traveling forward with a speed of
V, the sum of the forces in the lateral direction
from the tires must equal the mass times the
centripetal acceleration.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
2
MV
 Fy  Fyf  Fyr  R

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 Also, for the vehicle to be in equilibrium about
the center of gravity, the sum of moments from
the front and rear lateral forces must be zero.

Fyf b  Fyr c  0
 Thus
c
Fyf  Fyr
b
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 Substituting back into this equation:

2
Mv
 Fy  Fyf  Fyr  R
We get:

v2c  cb L b v2 

M  F yr   1  F yr    F yr  F yr  M  

R b   b  b L R 

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 But M b/L is simply the portion of the vehicle
mass carried on the rear axle (i.e., Gr/g); thus
that equation simply tells us that the lateral
force developed at the rear axle must be G r/g
times the lateral acceleration (V2/R) at that
point.
 Solving for Fyf in the same fashion will indicate
that the lateral force at the front axle must be
Gf/g times the lateral acceleration (V 2/R).

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 With the required lateral forces known, the slip
angles at the front and rear wheels are also
established from equation Fy=Cαα. That is:
2
v
 f  Gf
(Cf gR)
 And:
2
v
 r  Gr
(Cr gR )
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 We must now look to
the geometry of the
vehicle in the turn to
complete the analysis.
 With a little study of
this figure, it can be
seen that:

L
  57.3   f   r
R
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 Now substituting for αf and αr from the seen
equations, we get:
L G f v2
Gr v 2 L  G f Gr  v 2
  57.3    57.3  
R Cf gR Cr gR R  Cf Cr  gR

Where:
- δ - Steer angle at the front wheels (deg)
- L - Wheelbase (m)
- R - Radius of turn (m)
- v - Forward speed (m/sec)
- g - Gravitational acceleration constant = 9.81 m/sec 2
- Gf - Load on the front axle (N)
- Gr - Load on the rear axle (N)
- Cαf - Cornering stiffness of the front tires (Ny/deg)
- Cαr. - Cornering stiffness of the rear tires (Ny/deg)
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Understeer Gradient
 That derived equation is very important to the
turning response properties (stability) of a
motor vehicle.
 It describes how the steer angle of the vehicle
must be changed with the radius of turn, R or
the lateral acceleration, V2/(gR).
 The term [Gf/Cαf – Gr/Cαr] determines the
magnitude and direction of the steering inputs
required.
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 It consists of two terms, each of which is the
ratio of the load on the axle (front or rear) to
the cornering stiffness of the tyres on the axle.
 It is called the "Understeer Gradient," and will
be denoted by the symbol, K, which has the
units of degrees/g or degrees/(m/s2)
 Three possibilities exist:
1. Neutral steer
2. Understeer and
3. Oversteer 17/02/2024
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 But,before we analyse the 3 possibilities, let
remind again on the Understeer Gradient.

Understeer (Self-Steering) Gradient

 The most commonly used measure of open-loop
response is the understeer gradient.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 Understeer gradient is a measure of
performance under steady-state conditions,
although the measure can be used to infer
(deduce) performance properties under
conditions that are not quite steady-state
(quasi-steady-state conditions).

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 The equation is often written in a shorthand
form as follows:

L
  57.3  Ka y
Where:
R
- K - Understeer gradient (deg/g)
- ay - Lateral acceleration (g)

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Now, let us look on the 3

possibilities of Understeer
Gradient,

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Understeer and oversteer are

vehicle dynamics terms used to
describe the sensitivity of a
vehicle to steering.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
1) Neutral Steer:

Gf Gr
If   K  0   f  r
Cf Cr
 Neutral steer - a cornering condition in which
the front and rear slip angles are equal.
 A neutral steer configuration provides
maximum cornering performance but makes
the vehicle less stable and more difficult to
drive than a vehicle with slight understeer
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
2) Understeer:

Gf Gr
If   K  0   f  r
Cf Cr

 Imagine you're driving a car, and turn the car

into a bend. However, the vehicle doesn't
respond and keeps going straight, or it turns in
but not as much as you would like. This is
understeer.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 Basically, the front wheels slip on the road
surface, allowing the car's momentum to push
it straight on.
 When understeer occurs, the steering will feel
lighter and somehow not connected to the front
wheels.
 Most modern cars are set up to understeer
before anything more serious will happen.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Understeer: the car does not turn enough and

leaves the road.
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
3) Oversteer:

Gf Gr
If   K  0   f  r
Cf Cr

 Imagine you're driving a car and turning into a

bend. However, you only put in a small steering
input and the car turns in much more sharply
than you anticipated. This is oversteer.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 The rear wheels are going faster than the
fronts, pushing the vehicle around.
 Sometimes the rear wheels will slip more than
the front when cornering on slippery roads,
leading to the same effect as vehicle momentum
and weight distribution can push the rear of
the car around.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 The way in which steer angle changes with
speed on a constant-radius turn for each of
these cases is illustrated in following figure.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Oversteer: the car makes the turn too sharp

and gets into a spin.
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 With understeer, the
angle increases with the
square of the speed,
reaching twice the initial
angle at the
characteristic speed.
 In
the oversteer case, the
steer angle decreases
With a neutral steer vehicle, with the square of the
the steer angle to follow the speed and becomes zero
curve at any speed is simply at the critical speed
the Ackerman Angle. value.
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 From that figure, one can conclude:
- The characteristics of neutral steer, for a
constant radius turn are represented by a
horizontal line in the steer angle-speed
diagram shown in the figure.
- The characteristics of understeer and
oversteer, for a constant radius turn are
represented by a parabola in the steer angle-
speed diagram shown in the figure.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
- The relationship of the 3 possibilities of
understeer gradient, between the required
steer angle and forward speed for this kind of
vehicle at a constant radius turn are
illustrated in the figure.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 For a neutral steer vehicle, when it is speeding
in a constant radius turn, the driver should
maintain the same steering wheel position. In
other words, when a vehicle is speeding with
the steering wheel fixed, the turning radius
remains the same, as illustrated in the figure.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 For an understeer vehicle, when it is speeding
in a constant radius turn, the driver must
increase the steer angle. In other words, when
it is accelerated with the steering wheel fixed,
the turning radius increases, as illustrated in
the figure.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
 For an oversteer vehicle, when it is speeding in
a constant radius turn, the driver must
decrease the steer angle. In other words, when
it is speeding with the steering wheel fixed, the
turning radius decreases, as illustrated in the
figure.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
What may affect the understeer Gradient?
Many properties of the vehicle affect the
understeer gradient, including:
Tire cornering stiffness
Camber thrust
Lateral force
Self aligning torque
Lateral load transfer

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
How to avoid over and understeer
All advice can be summarised as follows:
 Tyres - Make sure all your tyres have good tread and are at the
correct pressures.
 Roads - Be aware of camber changes and uneven road surfaces
as these can all upset your vehicle.
 Weather - Wet or damp weather is tricky or in other word
awkward, as it will often make roads extremely slippery.
 Speed - Above all, drive at appropriate speeds and leave
sensible distances between yourself and other vehicles.
 Stability - Keep the vehicle as stable as possible. If at all
possible, aim to get all your gear changing and braking done
before you enter the bend, so you can accelerate out
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Steering Characteristics
Other Steering Characteristics are:
 Characteristic Speed
 Critical Speed
 Lateral Acceleration Gain
 Yaw Velocity Gain
 Sideslip Angle
 Static Margin

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

Point mass at the CG is dynamically equivalent

to the vehicle itself for all motions
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Characteristic Speed
 For an understeer vehicle, the understeer level may be
quantified by a parameter known as the characteristic
speed. Characteristic speed is simply the speed at
which the steer angle required to negotiate any turn is
twice the Ackerman Angle.

g
vchar  57.3L
K
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Critical Speed
 In the oversteer case, a critical speed will exist
above which the vehicle will be unstable. The
critical speed is given by the expression:

g
vcrit   57.3L
K
Note: K is negative in value thus the expression
under the square root is positive and has a real
value.
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Lateral Acceleration Gain
- Things always to remember and know whenever there
is cornering is that there will be always steering and in
consequence lateral acceleration, ay will be formed.
- And therefore, the ratio of lateral acceleration, ay to the
steering angle, δ is known as the lateral acceleration
gain, 2
v
ay 57.3Lg
 ( g / sec)
 Kv 2
1
57.3Lg
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Lateral Acceleration Gain – Cont …..
- This is important, as an on-board driver can
feel the vehicle lateral acceleration and yaw
rate responses to steer input very well.

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Yaw Velocity Gain
 Then, there is another steering characteristic
called yaw velocity gain, which is the ratio of
yaw velocity, r to the steer angle, δ:

V
V
r  57.3 deg/ sec)
r L

R  KV 2
1
57.3Lg
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Yaw Velocity Gain – Cont …
 Yaw velocity gain is an often used parameter
for comparing the steering response of road
vehicles.
 The heading angle change by developing a
Yaw Velocity (sometimes called Yaw Rate), r
during steering.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING

 Yaw velocity gain as a function of speed.

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Sideslip Angle
 From the discussion of turning behavior, it is
evident that when the lateral acceleration is
negligible, the rear wheel tracks inboard of the
front wheel. No slip angle because there is no
lateral forces
 But as lateral acceleration increases, the rear of
the vehicle must drift outboard to develop the
necessary slip angles on the rear tires.

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Sideslip Angle, β

Sideslip angle in a low-speed turn

Sideslip angle in a high-speed turn.

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Sideslip Angle
- So, at any point on the vehicle a sideslip
angle may be defined as the angle between
the longitudinal axis and the local direction
of travel.
- In general, the sideslip angle will be different
at every point on a car during cornering.
- For any speed the sideslip angle, β at the CG
will be: c c Gr v 2
  57.3   r  57.3 
R R Cr gR
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Static Margin (SM)
 A term often used in discussions of handling a
vehicle is the static margin and like understeer
coefficient or characteristic speed, provides a
measure of the steady-state handling behavior.
 The static margin is defined as the distance the
neutral steer point falls behind CG normalised
by the wheelbase

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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Static Margin

e
Static Margin 
L
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3. HIGH-SPEED CORNERING
Static Margin (SM)
- If the point is behind CG, SM is + and the
vehicle is understeer
- If the point is at CG, SM is zero and the
vehicle is neutralsteer
- If the point is ahead CG, SM is - and the
vehicle is oversteer
 On typical vehicles the static margin falls in the
range of 0.05 to 0.07 behind the CG meaning
mostly designed/set for understeer.
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CORNERING

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING

Let us now see the effects of suspension

on cornering.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Suspension Effects on Cornering
 The analysis of turning, thus far, has shown
that the behavior is dependent on the ratios of
load to the cornering stiffness, Cα on the front
and rear axles [Gf/Cαf ang Gr/Cαr].
 And we know that, the cornering stiffness, Cα is
defined as the slope (tangential) of the curve
for Fy, versus α at α = 0.

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 Although tyre cornering stiffness was used as
the basis for developing the equations for
understeer/oversteer, there are multiple factors
in vehicle design that may influence the
cornering forces developed in the presence of a
lateral acceleration (at high speed turning).
 Any design factor that influences the cornering
force developed at a wheel will have a direct
effect on directional response (Open-Loop).

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Remember
 Closed loop - The driver and vehicle is a
"closed-loop" system - meaning that the driver
observes the vehicle direction or position, and
corrects his/her input to achieve the desired
motion.
 Open loop – The vehicle only is an “open-loop"
system. It refers to vehicle response to specific
steering inputs, and is more precisely defined
as "directional response" behavior.
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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING

Now, what it means to say, the

specific steering inputs?

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Remember
 During a turning maneuver, therefore, the steer
angle induced by the driver can be considered
as input to the system and the motion variables
of the vehicle such as yaw velocity, lateral
acceleration, curvature, etc may be regarded as
outputs (vehicle response).
Yaw Velocity
Steering Angle Lateral Acceleration
Radius of Curvature
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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
 Now, the suspensions and steering system are
the primary sources of those influences.
 Briefly,let us see on how the suspension factors
affect handling.

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 Roll moment is the moment of inertia of the vehicle's
sprung mass (the portion of its weight supported by
the suspension).
 The roll moment
is the product of
the sprung mass
and the square of
the distance
between the
vehicle's roll
center and its
center of mass.
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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Roll Moment Distribution
 If the vehicle is subjected to centrifugal forces,
such as in a turn, the roll moment will cause
the body to rotate (lean) towards the outside of
the turn.
 For virtually all pneumatic tires the cornering
forces are dependent on, and nonlinear with,
load.

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Roll Moment Distribution
 This is important because load is transferred in
the lateral direction in cornering due to the
elevation of the vehicle CG above the ground
plane.
 This figure shows a typical example of how
lateral force varies with vertical load.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING

Lateral force-vertical load characteristics of tires.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Roll Moment Distribution

Force analysis of a simple vehicle in cornering.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Roll Moment Distribution
 We define a roll axis as the line connecting the
roll centers of the front and rear suspensions,
as shown in the following figure.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Roll Moment Distribution

Force analysis for roll of a vehicle

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Roll Moment Distribution
 Controlling measures - ADC

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Camber Change
 The inclination of a wheel outward from the
body is known as the camber angle.
 Camber on a wheel will produce a lateral force
known as "camber thrust”.
 Thisfigure shows a typical camber thrust
curve.

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Camber Change

Camber Angle (deg)

Lateral force caused by camber of a tire.
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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Camber Change
 Camber angle produces much less lateral force
than slip angle. About 4 to 6 degrees of camber
are required to produce the same lateral force
as 1 degree of slip angle on a bias-ply tire.

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Camber Change
 Now the camber angle arising from the
suspension is a function of the roll angle,
because the jounce on the inside wheel and the
rebound on the outside relationship is
dependent on the geometry of the suspension.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Camber Change

Camber change in cornering of a vehicle.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Roll Steer
 When a vehicle rolls in cornering, the suspension
kinematics may be such that the wheels steer.
 Roll steer is defined as the steering motion of the front
or rear wheels with respect to the sprung mass that is
due to the rolling motion of the sprung mass.
 In other words, Roll Steer is a steer resulting from the
turning of the vehicle through the suspension
reflection. This has nothing to do with steer angle that
comes from steering inputs

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Roll Steer

Roll steer with a solid axle.

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Lateral Force Compliance Steer
 With the soft bushings used in suspension
linkages for NVH reasons, there is the
possibility of steer arising from lateral
compliance in the suspension.
 With the simple solid axle, compliance steer
can be represented as rotation about a yaw
center as illustrated in the next Figure.

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING
Lateral Force Compliance Steer

Steer due to lateral compliance in the suspension

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Aligning Torque or Self Aligning Torque
 The phenomenon that always resists the
attempted turn, thus it is the source of an
understeer effect between the tyres and the
road surface is called the aligning torque.
 It has got cornering stiffness, Cα positive, thus
positive (understeer) and cannot ever be
negative (oversteer).

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Aligning Torque
 In other words, it is a self tendency of the
vehicle to straightens itself out after a turning.
There's no need for you to undo the turn or re-
steer the vehicle in order to drive straight
ahead. You just experienced self-aligning
torque.

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Effect of Tractive Forces on Cornering
 The turning analysis developed at the outset of
this chapter does not consider the potential
effects of drive forces present at the wheels.

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Effect of Tractive Forces on Cornering

Cornering model with tractive forces.

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Effect of Tractive Forces on Cornering
 If considered, the general equation showing
their influence will be as follows:

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4. SUSPENSION EFFECTS ON CORNERING

Effect of Tractive Forces on Cornering

L
57.3  W f W   W f Wxf W Wxr  v 2
 R    r  *  r * 
Fxf  Cf Cr   Cf Cf Cr Cr  Rg
1    
Cf

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Effect of Tractive Forces on Cornering
 This is the final turning equation for the case
where tractive forces are taken into account.
Note that, though it appears more complicated
than that developed earlier, it contains the
same basic terms. The three terms on the right-
hand side are as follows:
 Term 1 This is the Ackerman steer angle
altered by the tractive force on the front axle
(rear tractive force does not show up here).
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Effect of Tractive Forces on Cornering
 Term 2 This is the understeer gradient,
unchanged from its earlier form.
 Term 3 This term represents the effect of
tractive forces on the understeer behavior of
the vehicle.

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END

ASANTENI

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