Design of reconfigurable and fault-tolerant suspension systems based on LPV methods

This paper proposes the design of reconfigurable suspension systems in road vehicles. The purpose of the suspension system is to improve passenger comfort and road holding during travel and improve safety during various maneuvers. In the modeling the nonlinearities of the suspension system, the changes in the forward velocity and the change of the adhesion coefficient between the tire and the road are taken into consideration. The effects of the longitudinal or lateral load transfers during maneuvers or abrupt hard brakings are monitored in order to reduce their harmful effects on handling and comfort. When a fault (loss in effectiveness) occurs at one of the suspension actuators a reconfiguration is required in order to guarantee fault-tolerant operation. The design of the proposed reconfiguration and fault-tolerant control is based on an H_¿ linear parameter varying (LPV) method that uses monitored scheduling variables of the travel.