IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol. 5, Issue 04, 2017 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613 All rights reserved by www.ijsrd.com 531 Studying the Effect of Caster Angle on Wheel Parameters by Dynamic Analysis Using ADAMS CAR Software Prathamesh S. Patil 1 Gaurav N. Argade 2 Akash T. Bhilare 3 Anubhav S. Pahade 4 Dr.Kishor. Waghulde 5 1,2,3,4 U.G Scholar 5 Professor & Head 1,2,3,4,5 Department of Mechanical Engineering 1,2,3,4,5 PVPIT, Pune Abstract— In modern era, steer ability and handling characteristics of the vehicle have become major aspects. Providing comfort. To the driver by reducing steering effort without any compromise in steer ability and handling of the vehicle with ride comfort is a major Concern for automakers. Evaluating handling and steering characteristics of a vehicle in a virtual environment with the help of multi- body system packages saves product development time and cost. The main intention is to improve the steer ability and handling of the vehicle by avoiding the steering pull and wheel wandering problems for high speed cornering and straight-line stability. This paper discusses the dynamic effect of caster angle on the steering and suspension system. Automatic dynamics of mechanical system (MSC ADAMS) has become an important feature of roadside hardware design and analysis in recent year.so the analysis is carried out using the existing model in MSC ADAMS\CAR and editing the parameters as per standard car data. Using this model, maneuvers over standard track with initial speed of 100kmph for different values of caster angle at front wheel keeping the rear caster angle zero parameters, were simulated. The steering effort, steering wheel return ability and the lateral forces produced by the tires were obtained in order to predict the Behavior of the vehicle for different wheel geometry parameters. It can be seen from the results that positive caster angles improve the steering wheel return ability but increase the steering effort. Higher steering axle inclination (Sai) angles help in improving the steering wheel return ability and decreasing the steering effort as well. Negative camber angles help in producing higher lateral forces to improve the corner ability of the vehicle. Toe-in angles help in improving the straight-line stability whereas toe-out angles help in improving the cornering. Key words: MSC ADAMS/CAR, Suspension, Caster, Centrifugal Caster, Straight line stability, Steer ability I. INTRODUCTION The turning ability of the vehicle is vital in improving the overall driving stability of the vehicle. By improving the cornering ability of the vehicle, the overall driving stability will also improve thus giving the driver a safer driving experience and swifter control of the steering. The unequal and non-parallel double wishbone suspension system is a favorite choice by car manufacturers for conventional vehicle due to the characteristic of the double wishbone suspension system that allow the engineer to manipulate various parameters such as the camber angle, caster angle, toe pattern, scrub radius and many more to achieve a higher cornering limit and better cornering performance of the vehicle. However, when a cornering force is applied to the tire during a cornering motion, conventional double wishbone suspension system will tilt the tire to the opposite side of the turning direction, thus increases the cornering resistance that will affect the overall cornering performance. Our aim of this research is to improve the cornering performance and the cornering performance of a vehicle by providing a suitable caster angle for suspension system. II. CONCEPT The caster angle can be defined as the side view inclination of the steering axis. Generally, the range of caster angle is 0 to 6 degrees. This introduces a mechanical trial called caster trial which in conjunction with pneumatic trial is very important in giving a steering a suitable feel and also has a significant effect on directional stability because of steering compliance. The steering feel is adjusted to obtain desired relationship between lateral force and aligning torque. Adding caster trial moves the point of maximum steering torque closer to the point of maximum lateral force, or even beyond it- that is steering goes lighter. During cornering the steering must also support the centrifugal compensation forces on the steering mechanism. This is called centrifugal caster. Fig. 1: Caster III. WORKING Using the Adams/Car software a standard model is imported and with the view to study the effect of caster angle, all the components of suspension system such as mounting point, track width, wheelbase, mass were modified and incorporated into new model to meet the requirements. Fig. 2: Imported car model