Title: Evaluating two control cases of pneumatic suspensions on the working performance of heavy vehicles

Authors: Li Zhang; Hui Zan

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Jiaozuo University, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, China ' School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Jiaozuo University, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, China

Abstract: To evaluate the performance of control pneumatic suspensions using the air valve control and damping control on the working performance of heavy vehicles (HV), an HV model is established to simulate dynamic equations under excitations of ISO-B to ISO-E. Optimal controls of the fuzzy logic optimised by the genetic algorithm are applied to control pneumatic suspensions. HV's working performance is evaluated through two indexes of the comfortable level and road friendliness. Results show that both control cases of the air valve and damping control greatly ameliorate HV's working performance in comparison with passive pneumatic suspensions. However, the road friendliness with air valve control is higher than the road friendliness with damping control. This means that HV's working performance using air valve control is better than damping control. Therefore, the air valve control of pneumatic suspensions should be applied to ameliorate HV's working performance further.

Keywords: heavy vehicle model; pneumatic suspensions; optimal control methods; comfort level; coefficient of dynamics load.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2026.152623

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2026 Vol.20 No.1, pp.50 - 72

Received: 31 Jan 2025
Accepted: 19 May 2025
Published online: 31 Mar 2026 *

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