Semi-active Suspension Control using Modern Methodology: Comprehensive Comparison Study

Semi-active suspensions have drawn particular attention due to their superior performance over the other types of suspensions. One of their advantages is that their damping coefficient can be controlled without the need for any external source of power. In this study, three control approaches are implemented on a quarter-car model using MATLAB/Simulink. The investigated control methodologies are Acceleration Driven Damper, Power Driven Damper, and H_infinity Robust Control. The three controllers are known as comfort-oriented approaches. H_infinity Robust Control is an advanced method that guarantees transient performance and rejects external disturbances. It is shown that H_infinity with the proposed modification, has the best performance although its relatively high cost of computation could be potentially considered as a drawback.
Comment: 2014 Ground Vehicle System Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, August 12-14, 2014, Novi, Michigan, USA