Suspension

Formula Cheatsheet
Front-Rear Distribution % Anti-Roll Bar Stiffness - (U-Bar)
Percentage of a given quantity distributed For calculating the stiffness of a
towards the front axle typical U-style anti-roll bar.

Front_quantity
x 100 Lever Arm Stiffness:
(Front_quantity + Rear_Quantity)
(3*E*I)
kL =
L3
Where:
Undamped Natural Frequency kL = Stiffness of a single lever arm
For calculating the undamped natural frequency
E = Youngs modulus of material in Pa (~200E9 Pa for steel)
of single corner of the car in heave
I = Second moment of area in m4 (see formula below)
L = Length of cantilever in m
1 kWheel
kWheel = m x 4 2
x ⍵2 ⍵= x
2 m Pi(d14 - d24)
I=
Where: 64
⍵ = undamped natural frequency of single corner of car in Hz Where:
kWheel = spring stiffness at wheel of single corner in N/m
d1 = External diameter of lever arm in m
m = sprung mass supported by that corner of the car in kg
d2 = Internal diameter of lever arm in m (use zero if bar is solid)

Motion Ratio DisplacementWheel

MRWheel to ARB =
& Spring Rate
MRWheel to Spring =
Spring Rate (Kspring) = Wheel Rate (Kwheel) x MR2
Relevant Unit Conversions
Weight: 1 kg = 2.21 lbs
Stiffness: 1 N/m = 1/1000 N/mm
1 kg/mm = 9.81 N/mm
1 lb/in = 0.175 N/mm
Torsional Section Stiffness:
DisplacementARB
(G*J)
DisplacementWheel kT =
(r2*L)
DisplacementSpring
Where:
kT = Torsion bar stiffness
G = Torsional modulus of rigidity in Pa (~80E9 Pa for steel)
J = Polar second moment of area in m4 (see formula below)
r = Length of one of the lever arms in m
L = length of torsion bar in m
Pi(d14 - d24)
J=
32
Where:
d1 = External diameter of lever arm in m
d2 = Internal diameter of lever arm in m (use zero if bar is solid)

Total Anti-Roll Bar Stiffness:

Torsion Bar
1 1 1 1
= + +
kTotal ARB kL kL kT

After calculating the result of the right side of the above equation,
invert the answer to find the total ARB stiffness (kTotal_ARB)
d1

d2

Lever Arm