Evaluating the effect of Suspension Damping on Ride and Handling Trade-Off in a Passenger Car

In a Passive suspension, damping force is generated by a shock absorber by pressurizing the oil flow between chambers. Typically, vehicle responds with suspension deflection which significantly depends on damping forces and velocity. Tuning damping forces for various road and steering input is a Black box. In any setting, damping force w.r.t velocity is tuned for optimum ride and handling. Practically, to achieve a balance between the two is a tedious task as the choices & arrangements of inner parts like piston, port, valve etc., which defines the forces set up [soft / hard] are infinite. The objective of this paper is to measure, objectify and evaluate the performance of two such optimum setting in various ride and handling events. A passenger car set up with an optimum soft & hard suspension damping force, is studied for various ride and handling sub-attributes and their conflicts are examined in detail from a performance point of view.