A new method to calculate the equivalent stiffness of the suspension system of a vehicle

The stiffness of a suspension system is provided by the bushings and the stiffness of the wheel center controls the suspension\'s elasto-kinematic (e-k) specification. So the stiffness of the wheel center is very important, but the stiffness of the wheel center is very hard to measure. The paper give a new method that we can use the stiffness of the bushings to calculate the equivalent stiffness of the wheel center, which can quickly and widely be used in all kinds of suspension structure. This method can also be used to optimize and design the suspension system. In the example we use the method to calculate the equivalent stiffness of the wheel center which meets the symmetric and positive conditions of the stiffness matrix.