Vehicle Dynamics

Overview

This is a guide to my work in vehicle dynamics, primarily concerning suspension geometry and shock absorbers. I developed the front suspension geometry for the 2026 vehicle and the rear suspension geometry for the 2025 vehicle.

SR26’s 7th place Maneuverability event in Oregon

SR26’s 2nd place Suspension and Traction event in New York

Front Suspension Geometry

I designed the front suspension geometry on SR26 (2026 vehicle)
This is a huge optimization problem with 15+ different variables effecting vehicle handling, steering performance, obstacle performance, and efficiency
My main goal was to improve steering and cornering performance while maintaining the strong suspension and obstacle performance of SR25
- This meant rethinking the fundamentals behind our steering philosophy and repackaging our front outboard assembly
- Also implemented multiple shock mounts, allowing for more varied vehicle setup between different events
Iterated through 22 different versions to reach the final design, evaluating each concept against performance & integration feasibility

SR25’s 1st place Endurance event in Arizona

Rear Suspension Geometry

I designed the rear suspension geometry on SR25 (2025 vehicle)
My main goal was to increase the speed we could maintain over obstacles (while maintaining other characteristics)
- This means that the suspension has to absorb more of the impact and the body should stay approximately level
Iterated through 14 different versions to reach the final design, discussing the pros and cons of each version with team members
Worked across sub-teams to ensure the geometry accommodated everyone

Simulated position of a tune based off of the raw data

Shock Absorber Simulation

I developed a Matlab program to simulate shock behavior based on the force at the wheel
- As input for the program I used data we’d collected of the force experienced at the wheel for a given obstacle
- Then, I treated the suspension arm as a lever to apply this force to the shock
- Next, I used dynamometer data and air spring calculations to determine the force in the shock from both the spring and damper (given the position and velocity of the shock)
- By iterating across many small time steps, I could simulate the shock by staring at an initial condition, solving for the position and velocity, and then feeding that back to find the force again
This simulation informed our initial tune and allowed us to compete with an optimal tune without rebuilding shock absorbers (after their initial build)