Title: Transient and steady state dynamic analysis of passive and semi-active suspension systems using half-car model

Authors: Waleed F. Faris, Sany Izan Ihsan, Mehdi Ahmadian

Addresses: Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Departments, College of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ' Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ' Mechanical Engineering Department, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

Abstract: Several control policies of semi-active system, namely skyhook, groundhook and hybrid controls are presented using a half-car model, as a continuation of the previous work on quarter-car model. Their ride comfort, suspension displacement and road-holding performances are analysed and compared with passive system. The analysis covers both transient and steady state responses in time domain and transfer function in frequency domain. The results show that the hybrid control policy yields better comfort than a passive suspension, without reducing the road-holding quality or increasing the suspension displacement for typical passenger cars. The hybrid control policy is also shown to be a better compromise between comfort, road-holding and suspension displacement than the skyhook and groundhook control policies.

Keywords: ride comfort; half-car models; semi-active supension; groundhook; skyhook; hybrid control; passive suspension; vehicle suspensions; transient analysis; steady state analysis; dynamic analysis; suspension displacement; road holding; transfer function; passenger cars.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIC.2009.023531

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 2009 Vol.6 No.1, pp.62 - 71

Published online: 26 Feb 2009 *

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