Truck suspension system optimization to improve ride comfort and road friendliness

Truck suspension system could alleviate vertical vibration as well as pavement deterioration effectively. Multiple methods are employed to promote truck performance, such as the optimal passive damping method, semi-active control and active control. With the purpose of improving ride comfort and road friendliness simultaneously, semi-active suspension systems based on fuzzy control algorithm are investigated in this paper. At first, a ten-DOF whole vehicle dynamic model was developed based on Matlab/Simulink, proper passive air suspensions were chosen to replace the original rear leaf suspensions. As time lag between demanded and achieved damping force of semi-active dampers was considered, effects of the optimal passive damping method and semi-active fuzzy damping control were analyzed and compared. Simulation results indicate that the latter one is more effective in reducing vertical body acceleration and tire dynamic forces.