Study of Different Twist-Beam Axle Configurations in Elastokinematics and Handling Behavior of a Vehicle

The twist-beam suspension is widely used in vehicles due to the simplicity of its construction, less occupied space and its low manufacturing cost in comparison with multi-link suspension. The difficulties related to the design of a twist-beam axle concern the large number of possible configurations for twist-beam profile and the stiffness adjustment of axle beam and suspension arms. However, design process can be done with the aid of multibody dynamics simulations, by testing several configurations in a virtual way. In this work, a simplified twist-beam suspension model is studied, and the influence of variation of its parameters is analyzed in its elastokinematics behavior and in handling performance of a vehicle.