BASIC DESIGN ISSUES OF WHEELED VEHICLE SUSPENSIONSYSTEMS

The paper deals with some fundamental issues referring to the conceptual design of road vehicles. The issues refer to: the possible historical origin for the today’s dimensions and architecture of road vehicles; the arrangement of the suspension of road vehicles that necessarily is composed by a pneumatic tyre plus a spring and a damper (or an active system); the basic dimensions and features of pneumatic wheels; the concept of steering systems; the main issues referring to car body influencing performances; the mass properties of road vehicles. In order to deal with the above addressed issues, theoretical investigations have been performed. The main result of the paper could be considered the highlight of the main mathematical relations underpinning the design of today’s road vehicles.