The suspension system in an automobile plays a critical role in ensuring ride comfort, vehicle handling, and overall safety. It serves as the interface between the vehicle body and the wheels, absorbing road irregularities and maintaining tire contact with the road surface. Automotive suspension system durability refers to the ability of the suspension components to withstand operational stresses over time without failure or excessive degradation. In modern automotive suspension systems, the multi-link suspension offers superior ride and handling characteristics due to its geometric flexibility and precise wheel control. This paper presents a comprehensive methodology for simulating the behaviour of the longitudinal link, camber link, toe link, and upper link in a multi-link suspension architecture using finite element analysis (FEA). The study emphasises robust modelling strategies, realistic boundary condition definition, and accurate load-path representation under representative driving scenarios, including acceleration, braking, and road-induced excitations. Component-level FEA is employed to evaluate stress distribution and fatigue characteristics, which are subsequently correlated and validated through bench-level experimental testing. Further, the paper outlines a correlation methodology between simulated results and physical test data. The results demonstrate a high degree of correlation between the simulated and test data, affirming the robustness of the proposed methodology. The findings enable early-stage design optimization, reduce prototyping iterations, and enhance confidence in virtual validation processes for suspension systems.
Swami et al. (2026) studied this question.