Title: An investigation into the ride comfort of buses using an air suspension system

Authors: Vu Van Tan; Truong Manh Hung; Olivier Sename

Addresses: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Automotive Mechanical Engineering, University of Transport and Communications, Hanoi, 100000, Vietnam ' Service Center, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Transport and Communications, Hanoi, 100000, Vietnam ' Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP (Institute of Engineering), GIPSA-lab, Grenoble, 38000, France

Abstract: The paper focuses on the ride comfort criteria of a two-axle bus using an air suspension system. First of all, based on the Gensys model, a nonlinear model of an air spring element linked to an auxiliary air tank is investigated. The parameters of the air spring model are determined through real experiments in both static and dynamic load modes with the error between the theoretical simulation model and the real experimental data being less than 8%. Then, a full bus model using the dependent suspension system takes into account the driver model mentioned in two cases of using air suspension and leaf suspension. Simulation results in the time domain with different motion states show that the ride comfort of the bus using air suspension system is improved by about 20%, when compared to the bus using the leaf suspension system. Meanwhile, the road holding criteria are maintained.

Keywords: vehicle dynamics; automotive oscillation; suspension system; air suspension system; air spring; ride comfort; road holding; buses; Gensys model.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2021.115595

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2021 Vol.28 No.2, pp.184 - 205

Received: 03 May 2020
Accepted: 28 Aug 2020

Published online: 11 Jun 2021 *

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