Optimisation of an Active Suspension Force Controllerusing Genetic Algorithm for Random Input

Abstract

A novel control scheme for the active suspension in a 4-DOFs  half-car model is presented.A force cancellation control scheme is used to isolate the sprung and the unsprung masses.Skyhook damper and virtual damper concepts are employed to stabilise the sprung and unsprungmasses respectively. Road-following springs are applied for the sprung mass to follow the trendof the road surface condition and to maintain the suspension stroke within a reasonable range.For efficiency, genetic algorithm is employed to search for the parameters like damping ratio andspring constant to achieve an optimum trade off among ride comfort, handling quality, andsuspension stroke simultaneously for random input. Computer simulations are performed usingMATLAB software to verify the proposed control scheme and effectiveness of the appliedgenetic algorithm.