Sorry this is late being a digest person:
>>>> Kevin Wallace wrote:
<excerpt>I've tried the BGC and Pro Performance Calculator programs and
would like to
find a more comprehensive suspension program, any suggestions?
</excerpt><<<<<<<<
geek mode on:
I do not how comprehensive you want to get, but if you have an technical
background, there is a suspension program used in parts the automotive
industry called sSNAP (static Suspension Non-linear Analysis Program).
It is not the fully comprehensive ADAMS or DADS dynamic multi-body
analysis code used for simulating pothole hits, but it does an
outstanding job of providing the kind of information you would want (ride
and roll rates, camber, caster, steer and it's derivatives with respect
to ride and roll, suspension compliances, roll center height --- all as a
function of ride height, roll angle, or steer angle).
It actually can be used to model any multi-body system (bodies here are
rigid parts) connected with elastic (bushings, springs) or kinematic
elements (heim joints, sliders) but is tailored to modelling any kind of
suspension you can imagine. It provides forces and displacements at all
the elements/points in all 6 degrees of freedom (It comes with a bunch of
pre-assembeled models that you can modify or you can build your own (I
have some neat Lola and Reynard Indy car push rod suspension models).
There is a "student" version with reasonable functionality for $100 that
works quite well. The full blown version is $1999. It runs on Windows
(3.1, 95/98/NT). It has been around for a while and runs very well on
any Pentium box with at least 8M RAM, 5 MEG hard disk space and a VGA
Driver with 1 MEG RAM and Local Video Bus.
geek mode off:
John Carriere
----------------------- taken from sSNAP product literature
---------------
sSNAP *
static Suspension Non-linear Analysis Program
Product Price Information
* WINDOWS Version: Requires Windows 3.0 or later.
$1999.
Version 8.1 requires a single user security device which plugs into the
parallel printer port and two user selected models. Models
available:
FRONT SUSPENSION (English or Metric units):
* Double Wishbone (SLA), SLA with coil spring on lower control arm
* Double Wishbone (SLA), SLA with coil spring on upper control arm
* Strut Front Suspension, Coil spring on strut
* Strut Front Suspension, Coil spring on lower control arm
REAR SUSPENSION (English or Metric units):
* Semi-Trailing Arm Suspension (Metric model Included)
* Live Axle - 4 Link
* Quadra-Link or Tri-link/Strut
* Twist Axle
* Twist Axle with Panhard Rod
* Hotchkiss-Monoleaf Springs
Additional Information: Joe Knable
Knable & Associates, Inc.
1318 Meadowgreen Lane
Linden, Michigan 48451
knable@prodigy.net
(810) 229-2644 FAX (810) 229-2442
JACircuits Autocross Timing Systems
http://www.mich.com/~jacircts
- Timing the SCCA Solo II Nationals since 1985
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