Modeling of an active suspension system with different suspension parameters for full vehicle

Abstract

An active suspension system attempts to overcome these compromises so as to provide the best performance for controlling the vehicle. A fully active suspension system aims to control the suspension over the full bandwidth, increase load carrying capacity, handling and ride quality. A model for vehicle’s dynamics while using an active suspension system has been developed. The equations are cast in both the state space form and transfer function forms. To compare the ideal system and a real system, a comparative analysis is also performed by incorporating various sensing and actuation constraints such as time delay and discrete sampling. Simple PID as well as feed-forward controllers is designed and the response is simulated for various disturbances such as road excitations and those arising due to cornering. Parameter studies are also performed to assess the response to various suspension properties. The comparison of the active suspension with respect to the passive suspension indicates significant improvement in performance characteristics such as riding comfort, tendency to rollover and road traction. The studies on the effect of sensing and actuation constraints provide valuable insights into the use of low-cost and/or robust control system elements.

Full vehicle model, State space equation, Passive and active suspension system, PID controller, Road profile, MATLAB and SIMULINK