Force element formulation of bushed massless links for numerical efficiency

In this article, a massless link model transmitting external forces is deve loped to achieve numerical efficiency in simulation of vehicle suspension s ystems. Forces acting on links are resolved and transmitted to attached poi nts with a quasi-static assumption. Also, a theoretical derivation and comp uter implementation of a massless link with bushing elements are proposed. In the massless link with bushing elements, one end is connected to the adj acent body by bushing, and the other end is connected by a spherical joint. The deformation of a massless link with bushing elements is determined by minimizing the potential energy function with a quasi-static equilibrium as sumption at each time step. Several simulations with a full vehicle model a re carried out to compare the efficiency of the developed massless link com ponent. It is concluded that the proposed approach can reduce the computati onal time enough to achieve a real-time simulation with a full vehicle mode l.