• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.128-137
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• 1998

A numerical approach for performing kinematic design sensitivity analysis of vehicle suspension systems is presented. Compared with the conventional analytical methods, which require explicit derivation of sensitivity equations, the proposed numerical method can be applied to any type of suspension systems without obtaining sensitivity equations, once any kinematic analysis procedure is established. To obtain sensitivity equations, a numerical differentiation algorithm that uses the third order Lagrange polynomial is developed. The algorithm efficiently and accurately computes the sensitivity of various vehicle static design factors with respect to kinematic design variables. Through a suspension design problem, the validity and usefulness of the method is demonstrated.