Tuned Mass Dampers in Passenger Cars

It is very well known that tuned mass dampers are engineered to minimise the vibrations in buildings in earthquake prone areas and in some cases machinery [1]. This paper evaluates the utility of Tuned Mass Dampers in passenger cars. For the same suspension system, addition of a tuned mass was found to reduce the transmissibility by a considerable amount. Addition of a tuned mass also helps in decoupling, to an extent, of road holding and ride comfort. The vibrations of the chassis are taken up by the tuned mass which improves the ride comfort, while road handling is taken care of by the damping-stiffness combination of the existing suspension. Hence, the existing suspension can be designed with more focus on road handling. The effect of changing various parameters like damping of suspension and tuned mass, stiffness of the springs etc. were studied. ∗Corresponding author. Tel.:+91 9444376726, +91 44 43514140; fax: +91 44 43514164. E-mail address: [email protected] (Anand S).