Effect of play in inerter on vehicle suspension system

The inerter is a recently proposed two-terminal element, where the force across the two terminals is proportional to their relative acceleration. Studies have demonstrated the performance improvement of suspension systems when incorporating inerters. This paper focuses on the influence of a play, usually used to model an undesirable clearance at the contact between elements, in the inerter on a vehicle suspension system. A quarter car model and a full car model are built using MATLAB SimMechanics. Using the model, simulations of the suspension system are performed in both the frequency and time domains, evaluating performances of the suspension with different play parameters. Based on these results, the influence of a play is analysed, demonstrating an improvement under a certain condition.