Handling performance criteria evaluation for vehicle suspension system with semi-active control strategies

Abstract

The vehicle suspension is an important system in a vehicle which provides ride comfort and handling capability, albeit with a compromise between the two. Semi-active suspension system, which solves this compromise, has been studied frequently with well-known control strategies. However, many of these strategies are designed based on vertical dynamics, focusing on ride improvement. This study evaluates any potential improvement in handling performance brought by a semi-active suspension system with these ride-oriented control strategies. In this study, these were implemented independently on the four wheel stations of a 10-degree-of-freedom full vehicle model which was subjected to step-steering and sine-steering manoeuvres, and the relevant handling performance criteria were evaluated. Results from the simulations indicated that, despite these control strategies mostly being designed for ride comfort, some of them are actually capable of bringing improvement in the handling aspect also, judging from the improvement in a few handling performance criteria.