Question on the Monoshock Suspension
Hey all,
I've been going through a lot of images of suspension solutions teams come to in FSAE/FS, and I've seen quite conventional solutions (roll heave, corner dampers with ARBs, and Direct Actuated Pushrods). The one that interested me the most was Direct Actuated, as it sacrifices the ARB for weight reduction, and potentially a more favourable pushrod angle (depending on which wishbone you mount it to).
Throughout my search, I've stumbled upon hill climb car suspensions, and a lot adopt the monoshock system. This is a one-damper system, where your damper is actuated during heave, and in roll, the pushrods compress a stack of Belleville springs. The large issue with this system is the lack of predictable roll damping, as all the damping comes from the springs themselves.
I was wondering if any team has run this system or considered it?
What were the learnings? Why did you do it? Did you switch away from it? How did you model it in simulation? How did you determine your roll damping? Did you measure the compliance of the system?
I feel like this system has potential as it removes damper weight and "acts like" a decoupled system, but the lack of roll damping is concerning. I wanted to hear some opinions, as there are few resources on this system, and I wanted to find out the experience of other FS teams with such a system.