Design and Analysis of Antiroll Bars for Automotive Application

Abstract

Anti-roll bar, stabilizer or sway bar, is a rod or tube, usually made of steel, that connects the left and right wheels members together to resist roll or swaying of the vehicle which occurs during cornering or due to road irregularities. An anti-roll bar improves the handling of a vehicle by increasing stability during cornering or evasive manoeuvres. The bar's tensional stiffness (resistance to twist) determines its ability to reduce body roll, and is named as “shear stress or Rolling Stiffness”. More vehicles have front anti-roll bars. Anti-roll bars at both the front and the rear wheels can reduce roll further. The other function of anti-roll bars is to tune the handling balance of a car. Under steer or overseer behaviour can be tuned out by changing the proportion of the total rolling stiffness that comes from the front and rear axles. The stabilizer bars contribute thus considerably to the improvement of comfort of the motor vehicles.