Analysis of thermal-mechanical coupled characteristics of vehicle twin-tube shock absorber

A comprehensive model that included mechanical dynamics of the shock absorber coupled with its thermal properties was proposed innovatively. Moreover a thermal-mechanical coupled model which reflected the closed-loop positive feedback system was established by using MATLAB/SIMULINK, and some curves of shock absorber temperature rising characteristic were obtained by simulation & computation under several operating modes and different parameters conditions. Research results show that: shock absorber design parameters, external excitations, and thermo-physical properties parameter, such as oil density have effect on the shock absorber temperature rising characteristic. However other thermo-physical properties parameters, such as oil specific heat, cylinder density, cylinder specific heat, and cylinder thermal conductivity, have no effect on it. The results may be used for studying reliability design of the shock absorber.