Ackerman Angle Calculations

International Journal of Mechanical and Production
Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD )

ISSN 2249-6890
Vol.2, Issue 2 June 2012 20-36
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.,

REVERSE ENGINEERING OF STEERING SYSTEM WITH DEVELOPED
EQUATION FOR STEER ANGLE
1
SHYLAEN S KESHWANI &
2
A. M. SURENDRA KUMAR

Department Of Mechanical Engineering, BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus, Dubai, U.A.E.

Department Of Mechanical Engineering, BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus. Dubai, U.A.E.

ABSTRACT
This paper deals with the steering mechanism in detail. As the design component, various equations
were derived from the fundamentals. A computer program wasmade on C language, which calculates all
the data relating to steering i.e. (Ackermann angle, length of tie rod, steer angle). The program was
simulated under different Ackermann angle, and various inferences were drawn from it.CAD models
were also created to demonstrate the various components used in steering systems.
KEYWORDS: Steering, Rack and Pinion, Steering Column, Tie Rod, Gear System, Steering
Wheel.
INTRODUCTION
The intention of the steering arrangement is to permit the driver to manipulation the association of
the vehicle by curving the wheels. This is completed by way of steering wheel, a steering column that
transmits the rotation of the steering wheel to the steering gears, the steering gears, that rise the rotational
power of the steering wheel so as to send larger torque to the steering linkage, and the steering linkage
that transmits the steering gear movement to the front wheels (See Fig 1). The steering arrangement
configuration depends on vehicle design (the drive train and suspension utilized, whether it is a traveler
car or a commercial vehicle). At present the majorly utilized arrangement is the rack and-pinion kind
and the recirculatingball types.

Figure 1 : Cross section of steering system

Reverse Engineering of Steering System with Developed Equation for Steer Angle 21
PRINCIPLE
The relative motion between the wheels of a vehicle at the road surface should be of a pure rolling
type so that wear of the tires is minimum and uniform. When the vehicle is moving on a curved path, as
shown in Fig 2, the steering gear must be so designed that the paths of the point of contact of each wheel
with the ground are concentric circular arcs. For proper steering the axis of rotation of all the wheels
should meet at G i.e. the instantaneous center of rotation of the vehicle. To satisfy this, the inner wheels
should be turned through a greater angle as shown in Fig in which is greater than the vehicle
is turning towards the right side.

Figure 2 : True rolling motion
FUNCTIONS OF STEERING SYSTEM
The primary function of the steering system are as follows:
1. The primary function of the steering system is to achieve angular motion of the wheels to
negotiate a turn.
2. To return to straight head position after a complete turn (Self Returning mechanism)
3. Absorb major part of road shocks thereby preventing them to get transmitted to the driver
4. Attain perfect rolling motion of the wheels at all times.
VARIOUS COMPONENTS USED IN STEERING SYSTEM
The steering system has three major subsystems: the steering linkage, steering gear, and steering
column and wheel. As the driver turns the steering wheel, the steering gears transfer this motion to the
steering linkage, which is responsible for the turning of the wheels. Although there may be many
variations to this system, but you will find this assembly in all steering systems.
The following components are present
a. Steering Wheel
b. Steering Column
c. Gear System
Shylaen S Keshwani & A. M. Surendra Kumar 22
d. Track Rod / Tie Rod
e. Steering Arm / Track Arm
f. Spindle
A. Steering coloumn
The automotive steering column is a mechanism chiefly aimed for relating the steering wheel to the
steering mechanism by input torque given by the driver from the steering wheel. The steering column is
an extremely convoluted mechanism. It is projected in such a method that it collapses in an encounter so
as to protect the driver.
B. Uses of adjustable steering column
1. In the event of a frontal encounter utilized as power dissipation management.
2. Provide climbing for assorted mechanism: the multi-function switch, column lock, column
wiring, column shroud(s), transmission gear selector, gauges or supplementary instruments in
addition to the electro motor and gear constituents.
3. Offers height/length adjustment to suit driver preference.
C. Steering Gears
The steering gearbox gives the driver of the vehicle alongside maximum impact to enable him to
exert a colossal power at road wheel alongside minimum power, to manipulation the association of the
wheels on the road
D. Calculations for lock-to-lock steering
If a car has a steering ratio of 18:1 and the front wheels have a maximum deflection of 25, then at
25, the steering wheel has turned 25x18, which is 450. That's only to one side, so the entire steering
goes from -25 to plus 25 giving a lock-to-lock angle at the steering wheel of 900, or 2.5 turns (900 /
360).
This works the other way around too of course. If you know the lock-to-lock turns and the steering
ratio, you can figure out the wheel deflection. For example if a car is advertised as having a 16:1 steering
ratio and 3 turns lock-to-lock,then the steering wheelcan turn 1.5x360 (540) each way. At a ratio of
16:1 that means the front wheels deflect by 33.75 each way.
For racing cars, the steering ratio is normally much smaller than for passenger cars, as the racing
drivers need to get fuller deflection into the steering as quickly as possible.
COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN (CAD) SIMULATION OF VARIOUS STEERING
COMPONENTS
E. Steering wheel

Figure 3 : Steering wheel
This steering wheel is specially designed for BAJA SAE 2012 (See Fig 3).The dimensions are as per
specified in the rulebook.The Diameter=30cm. The steering is specially designed this way so that it can
act as a damper during rough terrain.
F. Steering Rack

Figure 4 : Steering rack
G. Pinion Gear

Figure 5 : Pinion Gear

H. Rack and Pinion Assembly

Figure 6 : Rack and Pinion Assembly
As per the SAE BAJA handbook, Fig 6, is a 14 inch rack and pinion system. Fig 4 and Fig 5
illustrates the rack and pinion gear. Taking other features into account Rack and pinion also comes out to
be cheap, easy to repair and reduces the overall weight of the car compared to other steering gearboxes.
Hence its preferable for BAJA
STEERING GEOMETRY
I. Ackermann Geometry
Ackermann steering geometry (See Fig 7) is a geometric arrangement of linkages in the steering of a
car or other vehicle designed to solve the problem of wheels on the inside and outside of a turn needing
to trace out circles of different radius. The general equation to calculate the Ackermann angle is given
by,
Cot
o
Cot
i
= L/B
o
= turn angle of the wheel on the outside of the turn
i
= turn angle of the wheel on the inside of the turn
L= track width
B= wheel base
b= distance from rear axle to center of mass

Figure 7 : Ackermann Principle
J. Design Component of Ackermann- Deriving equation to calcualte steering angle
Determining the steering angle of the vehicle when experiencing a turn. That is to say that we have
two components moving together the left and right steering knuckles, but the relationship between their
motions changes as we move them. Its a bit like having a bowling ball in a dark room and spinning other
bowling balls in an attempt to locate it by listening of its impact.

Figure 8 : Derivation of steer angle 1
We have some mathematical formulas that can help us figure it out. Lets take a look at the
important angles and distances. The two most fundamental distances are the wheelbase of the car and the
kingpin center-to-center distance, which can be seen from the Fig 8 above. Drawing two lines
representing the wheelbase and the distance from the cars centerline to one of the kingpins, we can make
a triangle. By design, the line that connects through the centers of the Ackerman arm forms the
hypotenuse of this triangle. See Fig9 below.

Note that the angle with its vertex at A is 90 degrees by design, unless the vehicle has been crashed.
If this angle experiences an unplanned adjustment due to an impact, the car will dog track. This can be
checked using a tapemeasure and comparing distances from side to side. Also note that the line that
forms the Ackerman angle with the hypotenuse is parallel with the wheel base line, again by definition.
Because of this, we can say that angle B and the Ackerman angle are similar, so if we know one angle,
we know the other directly. But angle B isnt too hard to calculate. Recall that the tan function gives the
ratio between the opposite side and the adjacent side of the triangle.
tan(B) =
we know the distances and we are trying to find angle B. We need the inverse function of tan ()to get
angle B. So rearranging, we get:

tan
-1
{ } =angle B
For example, lets choose a wheelbase of 76 and a king pin to king pin distance of 38. The formula
would look as follows:
tan
-1
{ } = angle B
angle B = 14.036
So, the Ackerman Angle is 14.036. Now we can use this to find the length of the tie rod.
To approach our next problem, which is to find the length of the tie rod, we can divide the trapezoid
ABCD into a rectangle and two triangles. See Fig 10 below,

If you look through the diagram above carefully, you see the length of the tie rod segment BC is
equal to the king pin to king pin center distance minus distance Y on each side. So, we have to calculate
what is this distance Y? To find out, we have to decide an Ackerman Arm Radius. Purchasing a standard
Ackerman arm out of a catalog can choose this, or we can design your own. Either way, this is basically
just a parameter that the engineer chooses by his gut. Lets pick 6 (as per the catalog) to make
calculations easy. So, what is the length of distance Y? If we recall that the sin of an angle is the ratio
between the side opposite the angle and the hypotenuse.
sin(14.036) = Y/6
Y=6 * sin (14.036)
Y= 6 * 0.243
Y= 1.445
Calculating this gives us the value that its 1.445 inches shorter at the bottom and 1.445 inches
shorter on the top than the kingpin center-to-center distance. Expressed mathematically:

L
T
= D
KC
2*R
AA
*sin (Ackerman Angle).(i)
Where:
L
T
is the length of the tie rod
D
KC
is the distance between king pins center to center
R
AA
is the radius of the Ackerman Arm
Using equation (i),
L
T
= 38 2*6 *sin 14.036
L
T
= 38 2*6 *0.243
L
T
= 33.084
So, for a car configured with this values, the tie rod length needs to be 33.084
Since we have figured out all of the basic values. Now the real fun begins. Lets contemplate a turn
as shown in the figure 11 in red below. Suppose that the Ackerman arm labeled AB steers 20to the left
as shown. What angle does the other Ackerman arm transect? You might think 20, but this would result
in the wheels being parallel in a turn, which would be unsatisfactory. In reality, because the car pictured
is turning to the left, the right Ackerman arm (CD) needs to steer something less than 20. But the
problem is how much less?

Let us consider a line drawn diagonally from point D to B (See Fig 12 below). This creates three
angles that add together to give the angle of the wheel that pivots at point D. Well call the first angle K,
the second angle , and the third angle is of course, the Ackerman angle, which is already been
calculated.
Now we can start to work on calculating each of them. If you think about angle k, we can determine
it because for any steer angle, we know the positions of the ends of the diagonal line. If we assigned
point A the coordinate of 0,0(assume origin) then point D would have the coordinates (Kingpin Center to
Center Distance, 0) . In our case specifically point Ds coordinates would be (38,0). Point Bs
coordinates take a little bit more complexity to find.

We can calculate its co-ordinates with the following formulae:
Point Bs X coordinate = R
AA
* cos(AA + SA
L
)
Point Bs Y coordinate = R
AA
* sin (AA + SA
L
)
Where :R
AA
is the Ackerman Arm Radius
AA is the Ackerman Angle
SA
L
is the steering angle of the left wheel. Zero degrees is straight ahead.
Positive values are a left turn; negative values are a right turn.
Using our calculated values for a 20 left turn
Point Bs X coordinate = 6 * cos (14.036 + 20)
Point Bs Y coordinate = 6 * sin (14.036 + 20)
Point Bs X coordinate = 4.972
Point Bs Y coordinate = 3.358
So, the coordinates of Point B at a 20 left turn are (4.972,3.358). Now we can project straight to the
left of point B and straight up from point A to create a new point called point E (See Fig 13). Because
we projected straight left and straight up, the angle at E is by definition 90. Also, because point E falls
on segment AD, we can calculate distance DE with the formula:

DE = AD AE,
Where ,
AD= Distance between king pin center to center distance
AE= Points B, Y-coordinate
DE = 38 3.358
DE = 34.642

Now that we know EB and ED, we can find the length of BD because it is a hypotenuse triangle
formed. Using Pythagoras Theorem:

BD = (EB
2
)+ (DE)
2

BD = (34.642 )
2
+ (4.972 )
2

BD = 33.019
Furthermore, because we know the sides of the triangle we can determine angle k in the following
manner:
tan k = EB/ED
tan
-1
(EB/ED) = k
k= tan
-1
(4.972 /34.642 )
k= 8.661
So now that we know angle k and the Ackerman angle, the problem is two thirds solved. All we
have left is to find angle . Note that is included in triangle BDC ( See Fig 12 and Fig 13 ). We know
that side DC is the length of the Ackerman arm, which we chose to be 6 . We know that side CB is the
length of the tie rod, which we calculated earlier to be 33.084 . And finally, we know the distance BD,
which we determined using Pythagoras Theorem to be 33.019 . So we have a triangle of which all three
sides are known. Going through some maths concepts I remembered the law of cosines that can be used
here. It could be expressed a number of ways, but we will use the permutation shown below.
cos = (A
2
+ B
2
C
2
)
2AB
Since we need to find , using the inverse function of cosine will give the following relation,
= cos
-1
(A
2
+ B
2
C
2
)
2AB
=85.411
Now if we add up angle k, and the Ackerman angle, it will give the steer angle from the line that
connects the two kingpins. To get the steer angle, we have to subtract 90. The formula is:
Steer Angle = k + + Ackerman Angle - 90
Steer Angle = 8.661 + 85.411 + 14.036 - 90
Steer Angle = 18.108
As per our assumption the car is executing a left turn. The left front wheel is steered 20 to the left.
The right wheel is tracing a larger arc, and therefore should have a lesser steer angle theoretically. In
short the left side steering angle is 20 and the right side should be something less than 20. Comparing
our answer, which is less than 20, so we have passed the test. Additionally, experienced on the real cars
on alignment rack indicates that these numbers are reasonable.
K. Design Component of Ackermann- C program to calcualte steering angle
The figure below is a screenshot of the output of the coded program.

Figure 14 : Screenshot of program output
L. Program Simulation for different Ackermann Angle
1. Ackermann angle 12.90
The calculation is based on the following assumption
Car Make - Honda Civic 2011 model*
Steering ratio-16
Lock-lock-turn-2.5
Lock-lock turn angle- -28.125 to 28.125
King-pin Center to Center distance- 55
Track width- 120
*values taken from Honda Civic handbook 2011 version 43
Now if the car is taking a turn, one wheel deflects more than the other (as per Ackermann principle) and
which is also evident from the values we got from the program refer Table1.
Table 1 : Inner Wheel VS Outer wheel for Ackermann Angle 12.90
Inner Wheel
(in Degrees)
Outer Wheel
(in Degrees)
1 0.932
2 1.960632
3 2.921877
4 3.868224
5 4.8000
6 5.7175
7 6.621226
8 7.5113
9 8.388092
10 9.251884
11 10.102979
12 10.941649
13 11.768167
14 12.582794
15 13.385757
16 14.177371
17 14.957809
18 15.727362
19 16.486193
20 17.234596
21 17.972712
22 18.7008
23 19.49024
24 20.127617
25 20.826788
26 21.516701
27 22.197489
28 22.8695
28.125 22.952831

Figure 15 : Inner wheel Vs Outer wheelfor Ackermann 12.9
o

Steering ratio-18
Lock-lock-turn-3
Lock-lock turn angle- -30 to30
Track width- 90
Length of Tie-rod- 63.86
Now we have tabulated the various values of the Ackermann angle when the vehicle is encountering
different turns.
Now if the car is taking a turn, one wheel deflects more than the other (as per Ackermann principle)
and which is also evident from the values we got from the program referTable 2.
Inner Wheel
(in Degrees)
Outer Wheel
(in Degrees)
1 0.9754
3 2.88
5 4.6961
7 6.429
9 8.084
11 9.66
13 11.238
15 12.6351
17 14.0276
19 15.364
22 17.2714
25 19.070
30 21.8511

Figure 16 : Inner wheel Vs Outer wheel Ackermann 19.57
o

Steering ratio-13
Lock-lock-turn-2
Lock-lock turn angle- -27.6932 to 27.6932
Track width- 75
Length of Tie-rod- 21.81519
Now we have tabulated the various values of the Ackermann angle when the vehicle is encountering
different turns.
Now if the car is taking a turn, one wheel deflects more than the other (as per Ackermann principle)
and which is also evident from the values we got from the program refer Table 3.
Inner Wheel
(in degrees)
Outer Wheel
(in degrees)
1 0.9898
3 2.949
5 4.8702
7 6.7528
9 8.5986
11 10.4311
13 12.1839
15 13.925
17 15.634
20 18.137
25 22.158
27.6923 24.2418

Figure 17 : Inner wheel Vs Outer wheel Ackermann 8.348
o


Figure 18 : Comparing Inner wheel Vs Outer wheel values fordifferent Ackermann angles
Fig 18, shows a comparison between inner wheel vs. outer wheel for different Ackermann angles.
Where OW= Outer Wheel
II. RESULT AND INFERENCE
From the above calculations it is very evident refer Table 4, that as the Ackermann angle increases
the outer wheel angle decreases. As a result
a. Steering response will be much more smoother
b. Vehicle will react smoothly to any steering input
Table 4 : Comparing Outer wheel angle deflection for different Ackermann Angle
Inner
Wheel
Outer Wheel-
Ackermann
Angle- 8.343
Outer Wheel-
Ackermann
Angle- 12.90
Outer Wheel-
Ackermann
Angle- 19.57
20 18.137 17.23 15.43

It should be known that lesser Ackermann angle is preferred for:
a. When initial steering response will be more direct
b. Vehicle will react faster to any steering input.
Having a high Ackermann factor is useful in taking tight corners at a relatively lower speed. At
higher speeds its utility is uncertain. In fact during high speed cornering the dynamic effects compensate
for the Ackermann effect and sometimes its even suggested using a negative Ackermann angle, which is
referred to as anti-Ackermann angle. Formula One car generally uses zero Ackermann factors, which is
also known as Parallel Steering.

CONCLUSIONS
This paper gives detailed information about the steering system available today. As the design
component of the paper, various mathematical formula was derived from the fundamental to calculate the
exact steer angle under the Ackermann principle. And to make things even simpler a C program was
coded for it, which calculates various steering values needed such as Ackermann angle, length of tie rod,
steering ratio, steer angle etc. under assumptions of some basic values of the vehicle.
The program was simulated under different Ackermann angle, and it was inferred that as the
Ackermann angle increases the outer wheel turns lesser, which gives the vehicle better steering response,
and input variability increases hence giving smooth driving.
REFERENCES
[1] Dr. R.K. Singhal Automobile engineering, Khanna Publications, Second Edition 2008
[2] Dr. N. K. GiriAutomobile Mechanics, Khanna Publications, Eight Edition, 4
th
Reprint 2011.
[3] Damijan Krasovec-Sinkovec MM Steering Mechanism of Prototype Car , EEE Publications,
Third Edition 2007.
[4] Jack ErajevecSteering Mechanism, Thomson and Delmar Learning, Revised 6
th
Edition 2005
[5] Joseph HeitnerAutomotive Mechanics Principle and Practices, East West Press, Second
Edition, Reprint 2008
[6] Research and Education AssociationThe High School Trignomertry Tutor , Second Edition
[7] Balaguruswamy ANSYS C++, Pearson Edition, Thirteenth Edition, 8
th
Reprint 2008.
[8] Narang, GBS- Automobile Engineering, Khanna Publishers, Fifth edition 2004

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International Journal of Mechanical and Production

Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD )

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