Original Article

Proc IMechE Part C:

J Mechanical Engineering Science
Jacobian approach to the kinestatic 0(0) 1–17
! IMechE 2020

analysis of a full vehicle model with Article reuse guidelines:

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application to cornering motion analysis DOI: 10.1177/0954406220916504

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Guofeng Zhou1 , Junwoo Kim2 and Yong Je Choi1

Abstract
The Jacobian approach to the kinestatic analysis of a planar suspension mechanism has been previously presented. In this
paper, the theory is extended to three-dimensional kinestatic analysis by developing a full kinematic model and viewing it
as a spatial parallel mechanism. The full kinematic model consists of two pairs of the front (double wishbone) and rear
(multi-link) suspension mechanisms together with a newly developed ground-wheel contact model. The motion of each
wheel of four suspension mechanisms is represented by the corresponding instantaneous screw at any instant. A vehicle
is considered to be a 6-degrees-of-freedom spatial parallel mechanism whose vehicle body is supported by four serial
kinematic chains. Each kinematic chain consists of a virtual instantaneous screw joint and a kinematic pair representing
ground-wheel contact model. The kinestatic equation of the 6-degrees-of-freedom spatial parallel mechanism is derived
in terms of the Jacobian. As an important application, a cornering motion of a vehicle is analysed under the assumption of
steady-state cornering. A numerical example is presented to illustrate how to determine the optimal locations of strut
springs for the least roll angle in cornering motion using the proposed method.

Keywords
Jacobian, kinestatic analysis, steady-state cornering, full vehicle model, reciprocal Jacobian, theory of screws

Date received: 4 February 2019; accepted: 5 March 2020

nonlinear kinematics. Lee and Shim5 employed the

Introduction
Among various vehicle motions, the roll motion of the
vehicle that can be significantly influenced by the kine-
matic properties of a suspension mechanism has been
studied most. The capacity of a vehicle to safely run
on a curved path is associated with many factors such
as suspension geometry, the properties of suspension
springs and shock absorbers, overall vehicle geom-
etry, vehicle weight distribution and the properties
of tyre and road surface. Researchers have made
efforts towards a significant improvement in cornering
performance. The concept of the roll centre has been
firstly used in the analysis of vehicle suspensions since
1980s.1 Morse and Starkey2 presented the develop-
ment and experimental verification of a steady-state
half-vehicle cornering model. Mitchell3 showed an
analysis of the relationship between lateral move-
ments of the roll centre resulted from a roll and ver-
tical movement of the roll centre due to bump
movement. This analysis was extended to asymmetric
suspensions of the racing vehicle. Moline et al.4 devel-
oped a dynamic analysis of a planar twin-beam sus-
pension in terms of its roll centre and showed the
effects of tyre vertical stiffness, jacking forces and
Aronhold-Kennedy theorem to determine the roll
centre and compared the roll behaviour of three
planar half car models. Kim et al.6 introduced the
Jacobian approach to the kinestatic analysis of a
planar half vehicle model for double-wishbone sus-
pensions and derived the kinestatic relations between
the suspension mechanism and the vehicle body. All
these investigations mainly focused on half vehicle
models and thus showed the planar roll motion char-
acteristics of a vehicle.
Some researchers have attempted to explain the
three-dimensional roll motion of a full vehicle
model. Suh7 proposed a method of the displacement
matrix for the analysis of the roll motion using the
instant screw axis. Lee and Han8 presented a quasi-
static analysis for the determination of the roll axis
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul,
Republic of Korea
2
Pitch Lab, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Corresponding author:
Yong Je Choi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University,
Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.
Email: yjchoi@yonsei.ac.kr
2 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

using finite screw parameters. Recently, a few studies

have discussed the geometric relationships between
the roll axis and a full vehicle model. Lee9 presented
the full vehicle model representing the instantaneously
equivalent multi-link mechanism to find the instant-
aneous roll axis and predicted the roll motion under
the cornering condition. In this work, the contact rela-
tion between the wheel and the ground was modelled
by an instantaneous helical joint. However, more
elaborate full vehicle model including ground-wheel
contact relation is still needed towards the improved
design for cornering performance.
In particular, when the mechanism has elastic
springs, it is necessary to analyse the instantaneous
kinematic and static (or, briefly, kinestatic) relations Figure 1. Spatial serial mechanism.
simultaneously. The main aim of this research is to
develop a new method of the three-dimensional kine- In Figure 1, the twist of the last link of an n-
static analysis of the force-based roll motion of a full degrees-of-freedom (DOF) (14n46Þ spatial serial
vehicle kinematic model with two pairs of front and mechanism10 can be expressed by
rear spatial suspension mechanisms. The method is
unique in a sense that it is a unified approach to the T^ ¼ q_1 S^1 þ    þ q_ n S^n ¼ Js q_ ð1Þ
determination of the full vehicle kinematic model in
 T
view of a spatial parallel mechanism. The roll motion where q_ ¼ q_ 1   q_ n 2 Rn1 is the joint velocity
of the vehicle body with respect to the ground is imme-  h i
diately analysed using the Jacobian. In the following vector and Js  S^1    S^n is the screw-based
section, the kinestatic relations of serial- and parallel- Jacobian of the serial mechanism. The twist can be
type mechanisms are first introduced. The kinematic ^
viewed as T^ ¼ limt!0 D for an infinitesimal time
t
structure of the full vehicle body is described. ^ denotes an infinitesimal displace-
interval t, where D
Considering the full vehicle model as a spatial parallel
ment of the last link of the serial mechanism. From
mechanism, the Jacobian method is used to analyse the
equation (1), the infinitesimal displacement of the last
kinestatic relations between the force applied to the
link is given by
vehicle body and the forces generated by the strut
springs and the mapping between the displacement of
^ ¼ q1 S^1 þ    þ qn S^n ¼ Js q
D ð2Þ
the vehicle body and the deformations of the strut
springs. Thereby, the kinematic behaviour of a vehicle  T
during cornering is explained. Finally, the technique to where q ¼ q1    qn .
determine the best locations of the strut springs for the If we let a unit screw be ^ri which is reciprocal to the
T
least roll motion due to cornering is presented. columns of Js except the ith column S^i , i.e., r^i S^j ¼ 0
(for i 6¼ j), the inverse kinematic relation of the serial
mechanism can be written as
Kinestatic relations of spatial mechanism  
1 1 ^
Kinematics of a serial mechanism q ¼ diag T
r^1 S^1

^rTn S^n JTrs D ð3Þ

A kinematic joint (or, pair) can be modelled by use of  

a unit twist S^ whichis expressed in the Plücker’s axis where Jrs ( r^1    r^n ) is the reciprocal Jacobian
r  s þ hs of the serial mechanism (a detailed explanation can be
coordinates as S^ ¼ , where s is the unit found in Hong11).
s
direction vector of the axis of the joint, r is the pos-
ition vector from the origin O to the joint axis and h is Statics of a serial mechanism
a pitch. A prismatic joint (P-joint) can be represented A general force in space can be represented by a
s
by a free vector as S^i ¼ i 2 R61 , where wrench w ^ on a unit screw s^ which is expressed in the
0
 T Plücker’s
  ray coordinates as w^ ¼ f^
s¼
si ¼ X Y Z is the unit direction vector of the s F
P-joint. A revolute joint (R-joint) can f ¼ 2 R61 , where f is the magni-
 be expressed
 by r  s þ hs M

r  s tude of the force, and F and M 2 R31 are respect-
a line vector with zero pitch as S^i ¼ i i
, where si
si
ively a force vector and a moment vector about the
is the unit direction vector of the joint axis. origin O. Here, s is the unit direction vector of the
Zhou et al. 3

force, and r is the position vector from the origin O to

the line of action of force. When the pitch h of a screw
is zero, the screw becomes a unit line vector and  it can

s
be used to express a pure force by w ^ ¼ f^
s¼f .
rs
A pure moment can be represented as
 T
w^ ¼ 0 0 0 MX MY MZ , where MX , MY
and MZ denote the moment components about the
coordinates, respectively. When a wrench w ^ is applied
to the last link, the joint forces (or torques)  10 can be
expressed by

 ¼ JTs w
^ ð4Þ

 T
where   1    n 2 Rn1 . The wrench w ^ can
Figure 2. Kinematic structure of spatial parallel mechanism.
be found by use of the column screws of Jrs

X
n
where  is the actuator joint forces (or torques). The
^¼
w i r^i ð5Þ inverse static relation of the parallel mechanism can
i¼1
be written from equation (10) using reciprocal
T
ri S^i . From equation (5), the forward
where i ¼ i =^ Jacobian Jrp as
statics relation of the serial mechanism can be  
given by 1
 ¼ diag ^sT R^1  1
JTrp w
^ ð11Þ
s^Tn R^n
  1
1 1
^ ¼ Jrs diag ^rT S^1    r^T S^n 
w ð6Þ
1 n

Full vehicle model during steady-state

Kinestatics of a parallel mechanism cornering
Cornering forces
Referring to Figure 2, the kinematic relation of an n-
DOF (14n46) parallel mechanism between the actu- As shown in Figure 3, the origin O of the coordinate
ator displacement l and the infinitesimal displace- system of a vehicle is located below the mass centre.
ment D^ of the moving platform12 is given by The X-axis points to the driving direction, the Y-axis
to the left side of the driver and the Z-axis upwards to
^
l ¼ JTp D ð7Þ the car roof. The centrifugal force FC acts through the
  mass centre in the negative Y direction. The tyre side
where Jp  s^1    s^n 2 R6n . The column vectors forces FYi (i ¼1, . . ., 4) are produced by four tyres in
s^i of Jp is the unit line vector along the ith connector the Y-direction at the contact points Pi .13
between the base and the moving platform. If the Referring to Figure 3, the centrifugal force with the
reciprocal Jacobian of the parallel  mechanism is magnitude FC acts on the mass centre ( 0 0 Zcg )
given by Jrp ( R^1    R^n 2 R6n ), the ith and may be expressed in terms of a unit wrench as
column vector R^i of Jrp is determined as the unit  T
w^C ¼ FC s^C ¼ FC 0 1 0 Zcg 0 0 . The
line vector that is reciprocal to the n  1 column vec- side force FYi acting along the Y-direction is written
tors of Jp except ^ si . Now, the forward kinematic rela- in the Plücker’s ray coordinates as w ^Yi ¼ FYi s^Yi ¼
tion of the parallel mechanism can be obtained from  T
equation (7) FYi 0 1 0 0 0 XPi , where XPi is the X-
coordinate of the contact point Pi . It is noted here
^ ¼ Jrp q that the side force FYi may be computed using
D ð8Þ
Dugoff tyre model14 if any specific force value is
where needed. The sum of side forces w ^Y is obtained as
  P 4  T
1
 1 w^Y ¼ w^Yi ¼ FY 0 1 0 0 0 RY , where
q ¼ diag ^sT R^1 T
s^n R^n l ð9Þ i¼1
1
P4
P4 FYi XP
The forward static relation of an n-DOF parallel FY ¼ FYi and RY ¼ i¼1FY i . Here, the kinestatic
i¼1
mechanism10 can be expressed by relations between the suspension mechanisms and
vehicle body during cornering are studied including
^ ¼ Jp 
w ð10Þ the effects of suspension kinematics and strut spring
4 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 3. Cornering forces acting on the vehicle during cornering.
forces. The steady-state handling15 can be applied to
the prediction of the total vehicle characteristics from
its design details such as the tyre and suspension char-
acteristics. As references,8,9 it is assumed that the car
remains steady during cornering. The steady state16
implies constant path radius of curvature, constant
translation speed, constant angular speed and con-
stant magnitude of lateral acceleration, although the
velocity and acceleration are not constant in direction
relative to the ground. Then, both the speed v and the
angular velocity ! of the car are constant. Hence, the
longitudinal acceleration along the X-axis and angu-
lar acceleration about the Z-axis are negligible.
For the vehicle traveling forward with a constant
speed v, the sum of side forces must be equal to
the centrifugal force, i.e. FY ¼ FC . Considering a
moment equilibrium of the vehicle about the Z-axis,
it becomes clear that RY ¼ 0. Therefore, the sum
of the tyre side forces w ^Y , as shown in Figure 4,
 T
can be rewritten as w ^Y ¼ FC 0 1 0 0 0 0 .
Consequently, the sum of the wrenches w ^C and w ^Y
becomes
 T
^¼w
w ^C þ w
^ Y ¼ FC 0 0 0 Zcg 0 0
ð12Þ
and acts on the vehicle body during cornering.
Ground-wheel contact model
The wheel of the vehicle maintains contact with the road
surface at the contact point P, as shown in Figure 5.
Since the wheel can slide and rotate about P, the contact
may be modelled as a kinematic pair consisting of a
plane pair (E-joint) and a spherical pair (S-joint).
E-joint can be represented by two intersecting P-joints
 T
with two twists S^Ex ¼ 1 0 0 0 0 0 and
 T
^
SEy ¼ 0 1 0 0 0 0 . S-joint can be replaced
by three orthogonally intersecting R-joints whose
 
r  sx
motions are expressed by S^Sx ¼ P ,
sx
   
r  sy r  sz
S^Sy ¼ P and S^Sz ¼ P , where
sy sz
 T  T  T
sx ¼ 1 0 0 , sy ¼ 0 1 0 , sz ¼ 0 0 1
and rP is the position vector from origin O to the con-
tact point P.
Kinematic models of suspensions
Double-wishbone suspension. The schematic diagram of
a double-wishbone suspension mechanism is shown in
Figure 6(a). In this figure, each joint is numbered by
Ni (for i ¼ 1, 2, . . ., 9). The strut spring mounted on
the lower control arm is aligned with the prismatic
joint N2 (P-joint). The joints N5 and N9 are revolute
joints and the other joints are spherical ones. In order
to examine the relative motion of the vehicle body
with respect to the wheel, the wheel is assumed to
be grounded. Figure 6(b) shows the kinematic model
of the double-wishbone suspension mechanism.
The vehicle body can be considered to be the
moving platform of the spatial parallel mechanism
connected to the wheel by one SPS-serial (N1 N2 N3 )
kinematic chain of a shock absorber, two RS-serial
(N5 N4 and N9 N8 ) and one SS-serial (N6 N7 ) kinematic
chains. Because the RS chain is a 4-DOF kinematic
chain, it has two constraint wrenches, which cannot
produce motion of the vehicle body, acting on each
RS chain. The unit line vector of the constraint
wrench should be reciprocal to all unit line vectors
T
of the joints in the chain. It satisfies that ^si S^j ¼ 0,
where s^i are the unit line vectors of the constraint
wrenches and S^j are the unit line vectors of the
joints in the chain. Referring to Figure 6(b), the con-
straint wrench ^s1 passing through the R- and S-joints
and the constraint wrench ^s2 passing through the S-
joint parallel to the rotation axis of the R-joint can be
found for N5 N4 RS chain and also s^3 and ^s4 for N9 N8
RS chain. Meanwhile, there is another constraint
Zhou et al. 5

Figure 4. Wrenches w^ C and w^ Y acting on the vehicle body.

Figure 5. Ground-wheel contact model.

Figure 6. Double-wishbone suspension mechanism: (a) the schematic diagram of the suspension mechanism and (b) the kinematic
model.
6 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 7. Multi-link suspension mechanism: (a) the schematic diagram of the suspension mechanism and (b) the kinematic model.
wrench ^ s5 that passes through two S-joints in the SS
chain (5-DOF). Thus, five constraint wrenches s^i
(i ¼ 1, . . ., 5) act on the vehicle body.
Since the SPS-serial chain (N1 N2 N3 ) is a 6-DOF
kinematic chain, there is no constraint wrench
acting on the vehicle body. Owing to the strut
spring force along P-joint N2 , there exists a wrench
which can act on the vehicle body along r^s of the
reciprocal Jacobian of the SPS chain. In Figure 6(b),
r^s is the unit line vector which passes through two S-
joints N1 and N3 . The Jacobian Jp of equation (7) for
the suspension
 mechanism are expressed by
Jp ¼ r^s 2 R61 . Since it has five constraint wrenches
acting on the vehicle body, the double-wishbone sus-
pension mechanism is a 1-DOF parallel mechanism.
The reciprocal Jacobian Jrp of the suspension mech-
anism has only one unit column vector S^H . By defin-
ition, S^H is reciprocal to ^ si (i ¼ 1, . . ., 5). Thus,
the inverse statics relation can be found from
equation (11)
1 T
fs ¼ T
S^H w
^ ð13Þ
rs S^H
^ force along P-joint N2 , there exists a wrench which
where fs is the strut spring force. S^H represents the
instantaneous twist of the vehicle body with respect
to the wheel. The vehicle body can be considered to be
connected to the wheel by a virtual helical joint (H-
joint) S^H at any instant. The infinitesimal displace-
ment D ^H of the vehicle body with respect to the
wheel can be expressed as D ^H  qH S^H , where qH
represents the magnitude of the angular displacement
of the vehicle body about the axis S^H . If a small
change ls of the length of the strut spring along N2
is given at any instant, the infinitesimal displacement
D^H of the vehicle body can be found from equations
(8) and (9) as
^H ¼ qH S^H
D ð14Þ
where
ls
qH ¼ ð15Þ
T^
r^s SH
Multi-link suspension. The schematic diagram of a multi-
link suspension mechanism is shown in Figure 7(a). In
this figure, each joint is numbered by Ni (for i ¼ 1, 2,
. . ., 13). The strut spring mounted on one of five links
is aligned with the prismatic joint N2 (P-joint). The
other joints Ni are spherical ones. Figure 7(b) shows
the kinematic model of the multi-link suspension
mechanism.
The vehicle body can be considered to be the
moving platform of the spatial parallel mechanism
connected to the wheel by one SPS-serial (N1 N2 N3 )
kinematic chain of a shock absorber and five SS-
serial (N4 N5 , . . . , N12 N13 ) kinematic chains.
Referring to Figure 7(b), there are five constraint
wrenches ^si (i ¼ 1, . . . , 5) that pass through two
S-joints in each SS chain. Due to the strut spring
can act on the vehicle body along ^rs of the reciprocal
Jacobian of the SPS chain. Since it has five constraint
wrenches acting on the vehicle body, the multi-link
suspension mechanism is a 1-DOF parallel mechan-
ism. The reciprocal Jacobian Jrp of the suspension
mechanism has only one unit column vector S^H
which is reciprocal to ^si (i ¼ 1, . . . , 5). The strut
spring force fs of the multi-link suspension mechan-
ism can be found from equation (13). S^H represents
the instantaneous twist of the vehicle body with
respect to the wheel. Thus, the vehicle body can
be considered to be connected to the wheel by a vir-
tual H-joint S^H at any instant. Therefore, the infini-
tesimal displacement D ^H of the vehicle body
with respect to the wheel can be also be expressed
by equations (14) and (15).
Zhou et al. 7

Figure 8. Full vehicle model considered as a 6-DOF parallel mechanism supported by four ESH chains.

If v and ! are specified in the analysis, three terms,

Full vehicle model
q1 ¼ vt, q2 ¼ 0 and q6 ¼ !t in equation (16) can
We consider a full vehicle model with one pair of front be immediately determined, while q3 , q4 and q5
(double-wishbone) and the other pair of rear (multi- have to be found. The sum of three displacements in
link) suspension mechanisms, as shown in Figure 8. In equation (16) associated with the roll motion gener-
this figure, the contact between the wheel and the ated by cornering is defined as D ^r such that
ground is modelled as the serially connected E, S- D^r ¼ q3 S^3 þ q4 S^4 þ q5 S^5 . The infinitesimal dis-
joints and the suspension mechanism is modelled as placement D ^r may be rewritten as D ^r ¼ qr S^r ,
a virtual H-joint to connect the wheel to the vehicle where the unit line vector S^r represents the instantan-
body. This kinematic model can be viewed as a 6- eous screw axis of the roll motion and qr is the mag-
DOF parallel mechanism that consists of four ESH nitude of D ^r .
chains. The motion of the vehicle body consists of
three pure translations along the X, Y and Z-axes
(S^1 , S^2 , S^3 ) and three pure rotations about the X, Y
Kinestatic analysis of full vehicle model
and Z-axes (S^4 , S^5 , S^6 ). The infinitesimal displace- When a car is steered round a corner, cornering forces
ment D ^ of the vehicle body is now written as caused by cornering act on the vehicle body to gener-
ate the strut spring forces. Referring to Figure 9, the
^ ¼ q1 S^1 þ q2 S^2 þ q3 S^3 þ q4 S^4 þ q5 S^5 þ q6 S^6
D spring force can be considered to produce the input
ð16Þ force H through the virtual H-joint S^H of the serial
ESH chain. Consequently, the wrench w ^H is generated
where through the ESH chain and can be determined from
equation (6)
 T
S^1 ¼ 1 0 0 0 0 0
 T H
^H ¼
w ^rH ð17Þ
S^2 ¼ 0 1 0 0 0 0 T ^
^rH SH
 T
S^3 ¼ 0 0 1 0 0 0
 T where ^rH represents the column vector of the recipro-
S^4 ¼ 0 0 0 1 0 0 cal Jacobian of the ESH chain corresponding to
 T
S^5 ¼ 0 0 0 0 1 0 S^H . By definition, r^H is determined as a unit line
vector which is perpendicular to the ground and
and passes through S-joint (see Figure 9). If the fric-
tion is negligible, the work done by the strut
 T
S^6 ¼ 0 0 0 0 0 1 spring force is equal to the work produced by the
virtual H-joint

During steady-state cornering, the speed v and qH H ¼ ls fs ð18Þ

angular velocity ! of the vehicle remain constant.
8 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 9. ESH chain of full vehicle model: (a) double-wishbone suspension mechanism and (b) multi-link suspension mechanism.

From equations (15) and (18), the force H pro- and

duced by the virtual H-joint is related to the strut
spring force fs by T ^
l ¼ r^H Dr

T
rs S^H
H ¼ fs ^ ð19Þ are respectively the stiffness and the small change of
the virtual spring.
Substituting equation (19) into equation (17) yields Referring to Figure 10, the vehicle body may be
viewed as a spring system supported by four virtual
T
rs S^H
^ springs along ^rHi (i ¼ 1, . . . , 4).
^ H ¼ fs
w T
r^H ð20Þ From equation (23) the resultant wrench w ^ gener-
r^ S^H
H ated by four virtual springs can be expressed by

This wrench w ^H can be considered to be acting on a

X
4 X
4
virtual spring. Since r^H is reciprocal to the unit line ^¼
w ^Hi ¼
w Ki li ^rHi ð24Þ
vectors S^1 , S^2 and S^6 in equation (16), the small dis- i¼1 i¼1
placement qH of the virtual H-joint in ESH chain is
obtained from equation (3) where

1 T ^ !2
T
qH ¼ r^H Dr ð21Þ r^si S^Hi
^T ^
r SH Ki ¼ ks T
ð25Þ
H r^ S^Hi
Hi
The small change of the strut spring can be found
by equating equation (21) with equation (15) and

T
r^s S^H T ^ T ^
li ¼ r^Hi D ð26Þ
ls ¼ T
r^H Dr ð22Þ r
r S^H
^H

Since the four line vectors ^rHi (i ¼ 1, . . . , 4) are lin-

For a strut spring with the stiffness ks , the relation early dependent, we can write
fs ¼ ks ls can be substituted into equation (20) to give
r^H4 ¼ n1 ^rH1 þ n2 ^rH2 þ n3 ^rH3 ð27Þ
^H ¼ Kl^
w rH ð23Þ

where Substituting equation (27) into equation (24) and

writing it in matrix form gives the following forward
!2
T
r^s S^H static relation of the vehicle body
K ¼ ks T
r S^H
^ H ^ ¼ Jp 
w ð28Þ
Zhou et al. 9

Figure 10. Vehicle body supported by four virtual springs.

where or, this can be written in the matrix form using equa-
tion (29)
 
Jp ¼ r^H1 r^H2 r^H3 ð29Þ 2 3
K1 þ n21 K4 n1 n2 K4 n1 n3 K4
6 7
 ¼  4 n1 n2 K 4 K2 þ n22 K4 n2 n3 K4 5l
and
n1 n3 K 4 n2 n3 K4 K3 þ n23 K4
2 3 ð32Þ
K1 l1  n1 K4 l4
6 7
 ¼ 4 K2 l2  n2 K4 l4 5 ð30Þ where
K3 l3  n3 K4 l4
^r
l ¼ JTp D ð33Þ
In order to find the inverse static relation of the
vehicle body, the reciprocal Jacobian Jrp of equation l represents the small changes of the virtual springs.
(11) is written as Jrp ¼ ½ R^H1 R^H2 R^H3 ], where R^Hi Thus, the infinitesimal displacement D ^r of the vehicle
is the screw reciprocal to the column vectors ^rHj (i 6¼ j) body can be obtained from equations (8) and (33)
of Jp . In the previous section, D ^r was defined as
^r ¼ q3 S^3 þ q4 S^4 þ q5 S^5 . From equation (8) the 2 1
3
D
^rTH1 R^H1
column vectors R^Hi of Jrp can be expressed in three 6 7
terms of S^3 , S^4 and S^5 as R^Hi ¼ ai S^3 þ bi S^4 þ ci S^5 . ^r ¼ Jrp 6
D 6
1 7
7l ð34Þ
4 r^TH2 R^H2 5
From equations (11) and (28), the virtual springs’ 1
forces can be obtained as ^rTH3 R^H3

2 1
3 Since  is related to l in equation (32), the infini-
T
r^H1 R^H1 tesimal displacement D ^r of the vehicle body can be
6 7
6 1 7 T obtained from equations (31), (32) and (34) as
¼ 6 ^rTH2 R^H2 ^
7Jrp w ð31Þ
4 5
1 2 31
T
r^H3 R^H3 K1 þ n21 K4 n1 n2 K4 n1 n3 K4
^r ¼ J6
D 4 n1 n2 K4 K2 þ n22 K4
7
n2 n3 K4 5 JT w
^
2
n1 n3 K4 n2 n3 K4 K3 þ n3 K4
Substituting equations (26) and (27) into equation
(30) yields ð35Þ

2 T
3
K1 þ n21 K4 ^ ^r þ n1 n2 K4 r^T D
rH1 D ^r þ n1 n3 K4 r^T D
^r
H2 H3
6  7
 ¼ 6
4 n1 n2 K4 ^
T ^r þ K2 þ n2 K4 r^T D
rH1 D 2 H2 H3
^r 7
^r þ n2 n3 K4 r^T D
5
T ^r þ n2 n3 K4 r^T D
^r þ ðK3 þ n2 K4 Þ^rT D ^r
n1 n3 K4 ^
r D H1 H2 3 H3
10 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

where Table 1. Physical parameters of the full vehicle model.

2 1
3 Parameter Value
T
r^H1 R^H1
6 1 7 Weight (N) 10,000
J ¼ Jrp 6
4 ^rTH2 R^H2
7
5
1
Lateral acceleration (m/s2) 3
T
r^H3 R^H3 Strut spring constant (N/mm) 30
Mass centre (mm) (0, 0, 900)
Furthermore, the infinitesimal displacement D ^r
Front wheel contact points (mm) (1360, 770, 0)
^ ^ ^
can be expressed as Dr ¼ qr Sr , where Sr is the unit
Rear wheel contact points (mm) (1340, 760, 0)
line vector of the instantaneous screw axis. It implies
that the vehicle body rotates about the instantaneous
screw axis S^r . A direct observation of equation (35)
reveals: (1) The spring constant ks and the magnitude
of the external force cannot affect the location of the Table 2. Initial positions of the joints of front suspension
instantaneous screw axis S^r of the roll motion. (2) The mechanism.
mounting location r^si of the strut spring and the unit
Position (mm)
line vector S^Hi determined by the suspension linkage Double-wishbone
affect the cornering performance of the vehicle. suspension X Y Z

N1 1340 ()650 205

Numerical example N2 Prismatic joint
To illustrate the proposed method of the kinestatic N3 1401.5 ()420 672
analysis using the full vehicle model, one example N4 1330 ()664.5 687
whose physical parameters are given in Table 1 is N51 1294 ()420 666
used. The vehicle is assumed to perform a cornering N52 1509 ()420 678
motion under the lateral acceleration of 3 m/s2. The N6 1220 ()702.5 336.8
steering angle keeps constant during steady-state cor- N7 1185 ()370 332
nering. The positions of the joints of the suspension N8 1359.5 ()736.7 202
mechanisms, shown in Figures 6 and 7, are listed in N91 1007 ()367.5 219
Tables 2 and 3.9 N92 1334 ()353.5 212
When the wheel is steered, only the position of the
tie-rod in the double-wishbone suspension is changed.
Here, in order to investigate the effects of the initial
positions of the spatial suspension mechanisms the Table 3. Initial positions of the joints of rear suspension
steering angle is neglected. If the steering angle is con- mechanism.
sidered in the analysis, it only needs to determine the
Position (mm)
position of the tie-rod at the beginning.
Multi-link suspension X Y Z
Analysis procedure of full vehicle model N1 1256.2 ()796.6 210.9
This example begins with the computation of the roll N2 Prismatic joint
motion of the vehicle body at the initial state as fol- N3 1492 ()465 782.9
lows. Referring to Figure 4, the centrifugal force N4 1360 ()680 690.9
acting through the mass centre of the vehicle body N5 1492 ()465 682.9
during cornering is given by N6 1360 ()680 690.9
 T N7 1255 ()496 682.9
^c ¼ 3000  0
w 1 0 900 0 0 N8 1493 ()726 233.9
N9 1495 ()250 264.9
and the sum of the tyre side forces FYi can be
N10 1351 ()720 187.9
expressed by
N11 1351 ()270 222.9
 T N12 1256.2 ()696.6 210.9
^Y ¼ 3000  0
w 1 0 0 0 0
N13 1031.5 ()552 287.9
The resultant wrench caused by the cornering
motion acting on the vehicle body is obtained from
equation (12) We first find the screw-based Jacobian Jp of the
vehicle model given by equation (29). The four line
 T
^¼w
w ^c þ w
^Y ¼ 3000  0 0 0 900 0 0 vectors r^Hi (i ¼ 1, . . . , 4) in equation (24) are perpen-
dicular to the ground and pass through the contact
Zhou et al. 11

points between the wheels and the ground. These line vectors are expressed by
 T
r^H1 ¼ 0 0 1 770 1360 0
 T
^
rH2 ¼ 0 0 1 770 1360 0
 T
^
rH3 ¼ 0 0 1 760 1340 0
 T
r^H4 ¼ 0 0 1 760 1340 0

Thus, the screw-based Jacobian Jp of equation (29) is formed as

2 3T
0 0 1 770 1360 0
Jp ¼ 6
40 0 1 770
7
1360 0 5
0 0 1 760 1340 0

Since the column vector R^Hi (¼ ai S^3 þ bi S^4 þ ci S^5 ) of the reciprocal Jacobian Jrp is the screw reciprocal to the
column vectors ^rHj (i 6¼ j) of Jp , Jrp can be determined as

2 3T
0 0 0:58 0:87 0:49 0
Jrp ¼ 6
40 0 764:95 0:99 0:003 05
7

0 0 1360 0 1 0

With the Jacobian and reciprocal Jacobian, the virtual springs’ forces  can be computed using equation (31)

 T
 ¼ 1:753 1:753 0 103

Now, in order to determine the stiffness of the virtual springs given by equation (25), two line vectors ^rsi and S^Hi
representing the location of the strut spring and the instantaneous twist of the vehicle body with respect to the
rsi is the unit line vector which lie along the axis of the strut spring and S^Hi is the unit
wheel have to be found first. ^
line vector which is reciprocal to the five constraint wrenches ^s1 , . . . , s^5 of the suspension mechanism (see
Figures 6(b) and 7(b)). Then, they can be found as
2 3
0:11 0:11 0:34 0:34
6 0:43 0:43 0:47 0:47 7
6 7
6 7
  6 0:89 0:89 0:81 0:81 7
r^s1 r^s2 r^s3 r^s4 ¼ 6
6 669:03
7
7
6 669:03 748:75 748:75 7
6 7
4 1169:76 1169:76 952:79 952:79 5
664:21 664:21 861:01 861:01

and
2 3
424:49 424:49 668:77 668:77
6 168:66 168:66 119:76 119:76 7
6 7
h i 66 2219:77 2219:77 53:63 53:63 7
7
S^H1 S^H2 S^H3 S^H4 ¼ 6
6
7
6 0:73 0:73 0:37 0:37 77
6 7
4 0:62 0:62 0:93 0:93 5
0:29 0:29 0:053 0:053

Therefore, the stiffness of the virtual springs is obtained from equation (25)

   
K ¼ K1 K2 K3 K4 ¼ 22:19 22:19 21:21 21:21
12 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 11. Analysis procedure of full vehicle model.

Using equation (27) together with the coordinates By substituting the value of  into the above equa-
of r^Hi ðfor i ¼ 1, . . ., 4Þ already found and given tion, the changes of the lengths of the virtual
T springs
above, r^H4 can be written as ^ rH4 ¼ 0:987^rH1 þ are given as l ¼ 4:09 4:09 4:04 . Finally,
rH2 þ ^
0:987^ rH3 . And the virtual springs’ forces  of the infinitesimal displacement D ^r of the vehicle
equation (32) can be written as body induced by l can be easily computed by use
2 3 of equation (35)
42:85 20:66 20:93
 T
 ¼ 4 20:66 42:85 20:93 5l ^r ¼ 5:31  103 0
D 0 0 1 0 0
20:93 20:93 42:42
Zhou et al.
Figure 12. Simulation of full vehicle model during steady-state cornering.
Figure 13. Variations in the lengths of four virtual springs
during steady-state cornering.
This shows that the vehicle body is rotated about
the X-axis by 5:31  103 rad from the initial
configuration.
When the computation of the initial roll motion is
completed, the Jacobian and reciprocal Jacobian are
updated for the next configuration of the vehicle
model. Then, the new configuration of the vehicle
model is computed using the updated Jacobian. The
process is repeated until the changes of the lengths of
the virtual springs become zeros. The analysis proced-
ure is illustrated in Figure 11. Figure 12(a) shows the
initial and final configurations of the full vehicle
model. Recalling the infinitesimal displacement D ^r
of the  vehicle body can be expressed by
D^r ¼ 0 0 N P Q 0 T , where N, P and Q
are the real numbers, the roll motion of the vehicle
body during the steady-state cornering is a pure rota-
tion about the roll axis without a pitch. As soon as the
cornering motion starts, the roll angle about the X-
axis and the pitch angle about the Y-axis are gener-
ated and increased. In Figure 12(b), the roll angle
converges to 5:67 and the pitch angle  to 1:69 .
The variations in the lengths of four virtual springs
13
Figure 14. Height of the mass centre during steady-state
cornering.
and the height of the mass centre are shown in
Figures 13 and 14, respectively.
The analytic results based on the proposed method
are validated through a comparison with those
obtained from Adams/View software. The compari-
sons of the positions of the mass centre are illustrated
in Figure 15. The position of the mass centre, roll
angle and pitch angle at final state is listed in
Table 4. It is shown that the results generated by the
proposed method are consistent with those obtained
from the Adams/View software.
Application to the determination of mounting
locations of strut springs
In order to improve the cornering performance and
the stability of the vehicle, it is required to suppress its
roll motion. Referring to Figure 10, the stiffness Ki of
the virtual springs can be improved to suppress the
roll motion of the vehicle. A close observation on
equation (25) suggests that the locations r^si of the
strut springs can be adjusted so as to obtain the max-
imum stiffness Ki of the virtual springs and thereby
14 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 15. Positions of the mass centre through Adams/View and the proposed method.

Table 4. Position of the mass centre, roll angle and pitch angle at final state.

Adams/View Proposed method

X (mm) Y (mm) Z (mm) X (mm) Y (mm) Z (mm)

Mass centre 25.32 85.37 861.11 26.09 87.88

859.87
Roll angle 5:51 5:67
Pitch angle 1:64 1:69

Table 5. Feasible mounting regions of strut springs’ joints.

Position (mm)

X Y Z

Front suspension
N1 [1190 1490] [800 500] [205 355]
N3 [1251.5 1551.5] [570 270] [522 822]

N1 [1190 1490] [500 800] [205 355]

N3 [1251.5 1551.5] [270 570] [522 822]
Rear suspension
N1 [1406.2 1106.2] [946.6 646.6] [211 361]
N3 [1642 1342] [615 315] [633 933]
N1 [1406.2 1106.2] [646.6 946.6] [211 361]
N3 [1642 1342] [315 615] [633 933]

the least roll motion of the vehicle body. The objective Table 6. Optimal positions of the strut spring’s joints.
function can be defined such that
Position (mm)
!2
T
 rsi S^Hi
^ X Y Z
MaximizeKi ¼ f rN1i rN3i ¼ ks T
ð36Þ
r^ S^Hi
Hi
Front suspension
N1 1490 ()625.36 205
Subject to the feasible regions for rN1i and rN3i N3 1509.42 ()570 822
  Rear suspension
ssi N1 1406.2 ()678.7 211
where r^si ¼ , ssi ¼ jrrN3i rN1i
N3i rN1i j
is the unit
rN1i  ssi N3 1605.1 ()615 933
Zhou et al.
direction vector of the strut spring and rN1i and rN3i
are the position vectors from the origin O to the strut
spring’s joint N1i and N3i , respectively.
The feasible mounting regions of the strut springs’
joints N1 and N3 are assumed as given in Table 5.
Figure 16. Magnitude of the infinitesimal displacement D^ r .
Figure 17. Roll angle and pitch angle during steady-state cornering.
Figure 18. Comparison results corresponding to the positions of the mass centre during the optimization procedure.
15
The optimal positions of the strut springs’ joints are
determined for the maximum stiffness of the virtual
springs from the optimal solution of equation (36)
utilizing the Matlab function ‘Fmincon’, as shown
in Table 6. Consequently, the stiffness of the virtual
springs is computed by equation (25)
   
K ¼ K1 K2 K3 K4 ¼ 29:19 29:19 32:87 32:87
Compared with the original locations of the strut
springs, the stiffness Ki of the virtual springs in both
the front and rear suspensions are increased by
31.55% and 54.97%, respectively. By calculating the
magnitude qr of the infinitesimal displacement D ^r in
every instant is shown in Figure 16. It shows that the
roll motion of the vehicle body is suppressed during
cornering. Finally, the roll angle converges to
4:35 and the pitch angle  to 1:21 . In Figure 17,
the roll angle and the pitch angle  are reduced by
23:28 % and 28:40 %, respectively. Furthermore, the
comparison results corresponding to the positions of
16
the mass centre during cornering are illustrated in
Figure 18. For the original location of the strut
springs, the mass centre of the vehicle body moves
from the
 initial position 0 0 900 to the pos-
ition 26:09 87:88
 859:87 , while it moves
to the position 18:62 67:59 867:78 for the
optimized location. The roll motion of the vehicle is
suppressed during cornering. It can be said that the
use of the optimum locations of the strut
springs improves the vehicle stability during steady-
state cornering. Since the roll angle is reduced,
the vehicle can recover more quickly after cornering.
The roll angle reduction also increases overall ride
comfort.
Conclusions
The main contribution of this study is to present a
unified approach to the kinestatic analysis of a full
vehicle model consisting of any types of spatial sus-
pensions. A new Jacobian method for the three-
dimensional kinestatic analysis of a motor vehicle
during cornering is suggested. The contact between
the wheel and the ground is modelled as a serially
connected ES-kinematic chain. At any instant, the
suspension mechanism is modelled by a virtual helical
joint (H-joint) representing the instantaneous screw
motion of the vehicle body with respect to the
wheel. Thus, the full vehicle model is viewed as a
6-DOF parallel mechanism supported by four
ESH-kinematic chains. The developed Jacobian
method is used to analyse the kinestatic behaviour
of the full vehicle model during steady-state corner-
ing and extended to the optimal design of the
locations of strut springs for the least roll motion
due to cornering.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Guofeng Zhou https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6018-
1865
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Appendix
Notation
E-joint the plane pair
fsi the strut spring force
H-joint the helical joint
Jp the Jacobian of the parallel mechanism
Jrp the reciprocal Jacobian of the parallel
mechanism
Jrs the reciprocal Jacobian of the serial
mechanism
Js the Jacobian of the serial mechanism
Ki the stiffness of the virtual spring
ks the stiffness of the strut spring
Ni ith joint
P-joint the prismatic joint
^ri ith column vector of Jrs
R^i ith column vector of Jrp
R-joint the revolute joint
S^Hi the instantaneous twist of the vehicle
body with respect to the wheel
S-joint the spherical joint
Zhou et al. 17

S^i unit line vector expressed in the

Plücker’s axis coordinates
s^i unit line vector expressed in the
Plücker’s ray coordinates
^
w the wrench
^C
w the centrifugal force
^Hi
w the virtual spring force
^Y
w the sum of tyre side forces
D^ the infinitesimal displacement
D^r the infinitesimal displacement asso-
ciated with the roll motion of the vehi-
cle body Figure 19. Anti-roll bar.
li the small change of the length of the
virtual spring
lsi the small change of the length of the
strut spring
 the pitch angle
the roll angle

Appendix 1: Anti-roll bar and compliance

in the bushings
1. Anti-roll bar
As shown in the Figure 19, the anti-roll bar is
mounted to pivot from L with its centre part 1
in L. The connection between T1 and T2 is made
by an intermediate rod. Since the suspension
mechanism is a 1-DOF parallel mechanism, the
kinematics of the suspension only depends on its Figure 20. Compliance in the bushings and the elasticity of
mechanism. During cornering the anti-roll bar the links.
only generates the force to suppress the roll
motion of the vehicle.
As illustrated in Figure 11, the new configuration equivalent longitudinal compliance as a conse-
of the full vehicle model is determined at every quence of radial compliance of the elastomeric
instant of time. Also, the positions of the points bushings. The linear stiffness rate of each link
T1 , T2 , T0 1 and T0 2 can be found. If the anti-roll may be expressed by ki (i ¼ 1, . . ., 5) as shown
bar deforms, the force w ^b (¼ fb r^b ) generated by the in Figure 20. The wrenches generated by the
anti-roll bar acts on the suspension mechanism. linear stiffness of the links can be determined as
It generates the wrench w ^B acting on the vehicle
body through the suspension mechanism. The ^li ¼ fli s^li
w
wrench w ^B can be determined from equation (20)
where ^sli are the unit line vectors along the links.
T
r S^H
^ Since the unit line vectors ^sli are the constraint
^B ¼
w fb Tb r^H wrenches of the suspension mechanism, the
r^H S^H
wrenches w ^li cannot generate the motions of the
suspension mechanism. These wrenches can be
2. Compliance in the bushings viewed as the external forces acting on the vehicle
In the suspension, the elastomeric bushing trans- body directly.
mits force and torque between its outer and inner
sleeve with corresponding elastic deflection. The
suspension links can be assumed to include an