Continuously Modulating Mixed SkyHook-ADD Suspension Control: Implementation, Performance and Sensor Reduction

Abstract

The paper deals with the development of control algorithms for semi-active suspensions, aimed at improving the passengers’ comfort. In particular, a reformulation of the state-of-the-art technique SkyHook-ADD, is proposed. SkyHook-ADD is proven to be optimal under the assumption of single-harmonics road disturbances, however it presents a deterioration of performance in case of more realistic road profiles. Additionally, it is characterized by a two-state switching of the control variable which has detrimental effects on the chassis vertical jerk. To address this issues, the paper introduces a continuously modulating SH-ADD implementation. In addition, a reduced single-sensor version is derived, to minimize the implementation cost. The proposed algorithms are tuned by means of Bayesian Optimization, and are tested in simulation environment using a multi-body full-car model. Results on a realistic road profile show a limitation of the body vertical acceleration of up to 10% with a reduction of 62% of body vertical jerk. In the same scenario, the single sensor formulation improves of 44% in terms of vertical jerk compared to the Mixed SH-ADD, with enhanced filtering performance with respect to the switching one-sensor formulation.