Experimental Investigation on Improving the Comfort of the Vehicle Based on Damping Characteristics of Passive Suspension System using Quarter Car Model

Abstract

This paper presents detailed experimental research performed on a coil spring that uses the passive mode suspension operation with different road profiles. A quarter car model comprised of two degrees of freedom was developed for ride comfort assessment. The quarter car test rig model for a single independent front suspension that embodies sprung mass, unsprung mass, suspension system and the tire was used. The damping factor is calculated at different road profiles and operating frequencies. An excitation of sinusoidal road profiles with constant amplitude is enforced via an electric motor representing the road profiles. The experimental results of the sprung mass and unsprung mass displacements due to road excitation are measured, recorded and processed. In this study, the sprung mass responses were received for the generated road profiles in contracted and stretched modes of the static compression coil enabling the researchers to select a suitable controller design and innovative materials for the passive, active vehicle suspension systems based on the feedback of the displacement sensors in future developments.