Ride Height Model Options

Overview

The ride height changer allows the ride height, attitude, speed and yaw of a car/vehicle to be automatically and accurately adjusted, manipulating the pre-processed CFD model.

You can choose to not use to the ride height changer feature by toggling off the Use Complex Ride Height Model and entering 0s in the Delta Front Ride Height and Delta Rear Ride Height.

To use both the Simple Ride Height Model or the Complex Ride Height Model, the Do not Move Geometry needs to be toggled off.

Contents of Page:

Simple Ride Height Model

This option does not reflect the way ride height changer is traditionally considered, but instead allows the user to simply raise and lower the front and rear wheels relative to the height the model was uploaded at. These numbers are measured from the center of the front and rear axles, projected onto the ground plane. Select the simpleRideHeightModel if you do not know what the ride height of the vehicle is but would like the to alter the cars pitch.

Image 1: TS AUTO APP interface - simple ride height model input fields

Complex Ride Height Model

Determining the ride height of a vehicle is specific to the type of the vehicle. If it is a motorsport vehicle, the ride height should be determined based on racing regulations or industry standards. Below is an example in using our Complex Ride Height Model.

Note: The front and rear ride heights are measured from the lateral center of front and rear axles respectively projected onto the reference plane. Also note that the reference plane can be located anywhere on the vehicle as long as it is coplanar with the ground plane.

Image 2: Front and rear ride height reference points and baseline/reference plane

Our Complex Ride Height Model requires the following inputs:

  • Base Front/Rear Ride Heights (Ride Height Reference measurements)

  • New Front Front/Rear Ride Height (Ride Height (not delta) you would want to move

  • Front/Rear Ride Height Reference Points (points used to determine the ground plane)

The ground plane typically intersect at the bottom of the wheels. Check your racing regulations or industry standards to best determine the ground plane. A reference plane is to be created. This reference point can be anywhere on your vehicle and is how you determine your base ride height.

Image 10: TS AUTO APP interface - ride height model input fields

Example: Ride Height Determination

A typical non-racing vehicle is shown in Image 4. The reference plane is user and vehicle specific. When choosing a reference plane, select a consistent repeatable location. For this non-racing vehicle, the reference plane is defined by the frame rails on the vehicle.

Image 4: DrivAer Model - estate back

1. Create a reference plane in reference to the frame rails or a section on the car that is stationary and repeatable. (Image 5)


Image 5: Reference plane creation

2. Create the ground plane, for this vehicle the ground plane was created in reference to the bottom base of the wheels. (Image 6)

Image 6: Reference and ground planes

3. Determine the wheel origins for the front and rear left hand sides. From the wheel origins, create a midpoint between the right and left hand sides, this will be the center of the front axle. Repeat this process for the rear wheels as well.

Image 7: Center front axle point

4. Project the center front axle point onto the reference plane.

5. Project the point on the reference plane onto the ground plane. The point on the ground will be the front ride height reference point.

The distance between the 2 points will the the base model front ride height .

Repeat step for the rear.

Image 8: Base model front ride height