Title: Robust control design of active suspensions using modal descriptions of vehicle finite element models

Authors: Peter Gaspar, Istvan Kuti

Addresses: Computer and Automation Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Kende u. 13–17, H 1111 Budapest, Hungary. ' Department of Chassis and Lightweight Structures, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Muegyetem rkp. 3, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary

Abstract: The objective in this paper is to combine the finite element method with the robust control design method. The finite element method results in a high-complexity model with a large number of degrees-of-freedom, which is the basis of the control design. The superposition method is applied as a modal reduction in order to reduce the large-scale finite element model into an acceptable reduced-complexity model. This method guarantees the effective selection of all the significant frequencies in the control design sense. In the design of a robust control, both the performance specification and the model uncertainties are taken into consideration. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure a finite element structure of a bus model with 3444 degrees-of-freedom is applied. The active suspension system designed is tested with the original non-linear finite element model.

Keywords: robust control; H_∞/µ synthesis; uncertain systems; finite element method; flexible structures.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVAS.2003.004380

International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, 2003 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.405 - 420

Published online: 10 May 2004 *

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