Ride Height Research Articles

Reducing Drag by Optimizing the Underbody with Ride Height in Formula 1

This study investigates the aerodynamic interaction between wheel wakes and the underbody of Formula 1 cars, focusing on the effect of varying ride heights on drag reduction and ground effect optimization. With the reintroduction of ground effect principles in the 2022-2026 Formula 1 regulations, the potential for enhanced vehicle performance through improved aerodynamic design is significant. However, the efficiency of venturi tunnels, essential for generating effective downforce, is compromised by turbulent airflows produced by the wheels, known as wheel wakes. This research utilizes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to model these interactions at different ride heights, aiming to pinpoint optimal configurations that minimize aerodynamic drag while maximizing downforce. Initial findings suggest a delicate balance between ride height adjustment and tunnel geometry optimization, offering potential pathways to achieve aerodynamic efficiency in modern Formula 1 vehicles. This paper contributes to the evolving discourse on high-speed vehicle aerodynamics, providing insights that could inform future vehicle design and regulatory frameworks in motorsports.

Studying Forces on Three Different Designs of Formula 1 Front Wing

A simulation-based study of three different types of front wing designs used in the modern Formula 1 cars was done. The study mainly focuses on the aerodynamic forces that a Formula One car generates mainly the Downforce, the Drag force, & the Lateral force. These forces were studied in detail & taken a closer look at how do they migrate during the dynamic conditions the car is thrown into namely at various Ride Height changes, at various Side Slip (Yaw) Angles. A further elaborative study of the force builds up across the span of the wing was studied giving us a better picture of the concentration of the Downforce, drag force, & Lateral force being generated which will help us to correlate the pressure distribution data across the wingspan to the actual downforce concentration figures. A brief study of the flow field & flow lines was conducted along with the vortex generation for all three wings. A short comparison was made between the modern wing & a wing Ferrari used in the 1998 season, which will help us to understand the inherent problems that those designs had & how modern wings get around those.

Numerical Investigation of the Influence of Tire Deformation and Vehicle Ride Height on the Aerodynamics of Passenger Cars

Wheels and wheel houses contribute up to 25% of the total aerodynamic drag of passenger cars and interact in a complex way with their surroundings. Rims and tires induce complex flow separation mechanisms in a highly unsteady regime and the proximity to the ground enhances these phenomena. To have a clearer understanding of the flow mechanisms that develop around wheels and inside wheel houses, the effect of tire deformation and vehicle ride height on the aerodynamics of passenger cars has been investigated with unsteady CFD simulations. Tire deformation is modelled with an empirical formulation that provides close-to-real deformed shapes, while vehicle ride height changes are made by applying vertical translations the vehicle body. Slick tire geometries and closed rims have been analysed and their rotation has been modelled with a tangential velocity component applied to their surface. The investigation has been conducted in three steps: different car heights and tire deformation levels have been investigated separately and then combined, classifying the results on the basis of the drag of the vehicle. Results show that even small tire deformation levels can significantly affect the aerodynamic drag, thus deformation should be included in simulations and treated with caution.

Evaluation of Vehicle Ride Height Adjustments Using a Driving Simulator

Testing of vehicle design properties by car manufacturers is primarily performed on-road and is resource-intensive, involving costly physical prototypes and large time durations between evaluations of alternative designs. In this paper, the applicability of driving simulators for the virtual assessment of ride, steering and handling qualities was studied by manipulating vehicle air suspension ride height (RH) (ground clearance) and simulator motion platform (MP) workspace size. The evaluation was carried out on a high-friction normal road, routinely used for testing vehicle prototypes, modelled in a driving simulator, and using professional drivers. The results showed the differences between the RHs were subjectively distinguishable by the drivers in many of the vehicle attributes. Drivers found standard and low RHs more appropriate for the vehicle in terms of the steering and handling qualities, where their performance was deteriorated, such that the steering control effort was the highest in low RH. This indicated inconsistency between subjective preferences and objective performance and the need for alternative performance metrics to be defined for expert drivers. Moreover, an improvement in drivers’ performance was observed, with a reduction of steering control effort, in larger MP configurations.

CFD Investigations of the Effect of Rotating Wheels, Ride Height and Wheelhouse Geometry on the Drag Coefficient of Electric Vehicle

The development of electric vehicles demands minimizing aerodynamic drag in order to provide maximum range. The wheels contribute significantly to overall drag coefficient value because of flow separation from rims and wheel arches. In this paper various design parameters are investigated and their influence on vehicle drag coefficient is presented. The investigation has been done with the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools and with implementation of full vehicle setup with rotating wheels. The obtained results demonstrate changes in drag coefficient with respect to the change of design parameters.

Design and Testing of a Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller for Ride Height Control of Automotive Semi-Active Air Suspension Systems

With the rapid growth of the automotive technology, electronically controlled air suspension has been widely used to improve ride comfort and handling stability of the vehicle by actively modulating the suspension stiffness, vehicle height, and posture. Ride height control (RHC) is the main function of the semi-active air suspension, and it is achieved by conducting air charging and discharging of the air spring, which plays a critical role in improving the vehicle dynamic performance. In addition, the unevenness distribution with payloads at the four wheels, the different dynamic characteristics of the front and rear air suspensions, and the undesired roll and pitch angles make adjustment effect of the vehicle ride height hard to be well addressed. Therefore, an effective control strategy is very essential, which is not only for RHC but also for keeping the vehicle posture, as well as the vehicle dynamic performance. Considering that the full car dynamics is a highly nonlinear model, this paper proposes a novel nonlinear model predictive controller to handle the multi-objective control requirement of a full car system. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed controller, comparisons among the proposed control algorithm, the existing proportional–integral–derivative method, and the sliding-mode controller are carried out by a numerical analysis. The numerical results show that the proposed method excels the other methods and is effective in the adjustment of the vehicle ride height.

Ultrasonic Ride Height Monitoring of Automobile by Cross-correlation

Ultrasonic Ride Height Monitoring of Automobile by Cross-correlation

On the Influence of Ride Height Changes on the Aerodynamic Performance of Wheel Designs

On the Influence of Ride Height Changes on the Aerodynamic Performance of Wheel Designs

Study on Loss Consumption for Closed Loop Air Suspension Height Control System with High & Low Pressure Chambers

Ride height adjustment of air suspension can be achieved by pumping air into or releasing air out of the air spring. However, energy loss would inevitably occur during the two processes,and test system of closed loop air suspension was established.Working process of the system was divided into three procedures as charging, discharging and boosting. Energy loss calculation method-compressed gas available energy was put forward, quantitative analysis of energy consumption during charging and discharging was carried out. Experiment results showed that energy consumption during charging process rises as initial air pressure of high pressure chamber increases, and during discharging and boosting processes, energy consumption decreases when initial air pressure of low pressure chamber increases. Under the same conditions, compared with open-loop air suspension, closed loop air suspension system with high & low pressure chambers can save plenty of energy.

Stability Analysis of Electronically Controlled Air Suspension Ride Height System Based on Center Manifold Method

Stability Analysis of Electronically Controlled Air Suspension Ride Height System Based on Center Manifold Method

Dynamic Ride Height Adjusting Controller of ECAS Vehicle with Random Road Disturbances

The ride height control system is greatly affected by the random road excitation during the ride height adjusting of the driving condition. The structure of ride height adjusting system is first analyzed, and then the mathematical model of the ride height adjusting system with the random disturbance is established as a stochastic nonlinear system. This system is decoupled using the differential geometry theory and stabilized using the Variable Structure Control (VSC) technique. The designed ride height control system converges in probability to be asymptotically stable in the sliding motion band, and the desired control law is solved to ensure the stable adjustment of the ride height system. Simulation results show that the proposed stochastic VSC method is effective for the dynamic adjusting of the ride height. Finally, the semiphysical rig test illustrates the applicability of the proposed scheme.

Real-time Tracking of Ride Height for Bus with Electronically Controlled Air Suspension

To exactly track the ride height of bus and satisfy the control demand of air suspension,a height tracking circuit based on the inductance sensor is designed.The inductance of sensor and the designed tracking circuit are jointly controlled by the single chip for the inductance charge-discharge,and the single chip calculates the time constant of different inductance to indirectly obtain the real-time bus height.Temperature compensation and components of low temperature-drift property are adopted to fit the ambient temperature change of the bus.Additionally,a special filtering software is developed to track the dynamic ride height exactly and simultaneously.According to the test results,the height tracking system comes to be stable soon,and the change of ride height is about 1 mm;the relative error is about 1.9% and the max value of tracking error is less than 5 mm when the ambient temperature rises from 30 ℃ to 80 ℃.So,the designed tracking circuit can ensure the veracity of ride height control.

Ride Height Control of Trucks with Electrically Controlled Air Suspension Based on PID/PWM Algorithm

The truck with Electrically Controlled Air Suspension(ECAS) could reduce the loss of goods by setting running height when transporting, and to enhance the loading &unloading efficiency, a height modulating model was built by combining the theories of thermodynamics of variable-mass charging-discharging system and the vehicle kinetics. To solve such problems as “over-charging”, “over-discharging” and surging, a height control strategy of variable integral PID/PWM was proposed and its controller was developed base on the Freescale single chip. Finally the semi-physical rig was built for simulating the truck with the height controller, and the testing results show that the designed control system satisfies the requirement of height modulation.

Ride height measurement for track and tunnel testing is made easy with Variohm laser triangulation sensor

Ride height measurement for track and tunnel testing is made easy with Variohm laser triangulation sensor