A methodology for optimal semi-active suspension systems performance evaluation

This paper concerns the study of the optimal performance computation of a semi-active suspension evaluated in terms of comfort and handling performances. To this aim the semi-active suspension system is described as a quarter-car model, equipped with a controllable damper, providing an effective representation of the semi-active suspension dynamics. The passive suspension presents dual performances: at low frequency the better comfort performances are ensured by a high damped suspension, whereas the best comfort damping is low at mid and high frequency. The handling performance is perfectly the opposite. This study highlights how this trade-off can be overcome with an optimal control of damping and how the best performances in terms of comfort are reflected in terms of handling and vice verse. The main result of this paper is to propose a methodology allowing for evaluation of handling and comfort lower theoretical filtering bounds, which can be used as a benchmark for any semi-active control design.