For Gemini, MIT SEVT’s upcoming multi-occupant solar car, I was one of the leads on the suspension and steering system. In determining the dimensions of the front double-A arm suspension, I developed a number of analytical tools to quantify the compatibility with the car’s aeroshell and dynamic response to bump and droop.
Planar hand calculations deriving the motion of the critical points in the system (the corners of the wheel) and the angle deviation of the wheel as a function of the angle deviation of the lower A-arm.
The result of the MATLAB script I wrote to simulate the up/down motion of the suspension as well as the turning of the upright during steering--yields the entire volume that is swept by the wheel during the normal motion of the car.