Integrated control of semi-active suspension and vehicle dynamics control system

Abstract

This paper dedicated to investigate the integration of semi-active suspension and vehicle dynamics control system. Semi-active suspension (typically composed of a controlled damper and a passive spring) could improve the ride performance of vehicle by controlling the damper and spring. A vehicle dynamics control (VDC) system can enhance vehicle stability and handling in emergency situations through the control of traction and braking forces at individual wheels. A nonlinear control system is designed to coordinate interactions between semi-active suspension and VDC. A multi-body vehicle dynamic model is established in this paper, the multi-body vehicle dynamic model based on ADAMS can accurately predict the dynamics performance of the vehicle. The integrated controller for VDC and semi-active suspension is established according to the longitudinal motion, lateral motion and vertical motion of the vehicle. A fuzzy logic controller for VDC and a skyhook controller for semi-active suspension controllers are established using Matlab/Simulink software. The road roughness is crucial to vehicle vibration analysis. Thus, the co-simulation of ADAMS and Matlab/Simulink scenario is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers. The simulation results show that the VDC controller and the semi-active suspension controller are effective, and the integrated chassis control system can enhance both of vehicle handling stability and ride performance greatly.