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Dampers

Damper Page

Configure corner dampers and optional heave dampers for each axle. Dampers control the rate of suspension movement, affecting transient handling, ride quality, and tyre contact patch stability.

Each corner damper is an independent library component that can be saved, loaded, and shared separately.

Parameters

Corner Dampers

Each corner (FL, FR, RL, RR) has one damper with a single parameter:

Parameter Description Unit
Damping Coefficient Damping rate — constant value or 1D map (Speed vs Force) Ns/m

The Damping Coefficient supports two data type modes:

  • Value — a single constant damping coefficient
  • 1D Map — a lookup table of velocity (m/s) vs force (N) for velocity-dependent damping (e.g., digressive or progressive damper curves)

Motion Ratio

Damper parameters are entered at the component level (i.e., the physical damper itself). The damper motion ratio from Kinematics converts between component-level values and wheel-level values.

The damper motion ratio is the ratio between how much the damper moves relative to how far the wheel moves:

Motion Ratio = Damper Travel / Wheel Travel

It is a unitless value, typically less than 1. A higher motion ratio means the damper moves more for a given amount of wheel travel, making the damping effectively stronger. The effective wheel-level damping coefficient is:

Wheel Damping = Damping Coefficient x Motion Ratio²

Motion ratios are read-only

Damper motion ratios are not entered on the Dampers page — they are calculated from the suspension geometry defined in Kinematics. The damper motion ratio can differ from the spring motion ratio depending on the suspension design. The Suspension Metrics panel shows both spring and damper motion ratios.

Heave Dampers

Heave dampers are optional and toggled independently per axle as part of the heave system. When enabled, a heave damper acts on the average wheel velocity of the axle.

Parameter Description Unit
Damping Coefficient Heave damper rate — constant value or 1D map Ns/m

Validation Warnings

Corner Dampers

Condition Warning
Linearized damping coefficient < 500 Ns/m Very low damping
Linearized damping coefficient > 10,000 Ns/m Very high damping

Heave Dampers

Condition Warning
Linearized damping coefficient < 500 Ns/m Very low heave damping
Linearized damping coefficient > 1,000,000 Ns/m Very high heave damping