Active and semi-active control of suspension systems for commercial vehicles based on preview

The performance of a vehicle axle/wheel suspension system is primarily determined by the comfort of the occupants, the required working space, the handling properties and, for commercial vehicles in particular, the dynamic tire forces and the load on the chassis components and on the cargo. General design considerations, leading to our research objectives, are given. The investigation described focuses first on the development of an active control at the rear wheels of a tractor-semitrailer combination. A more practical approach, using semi-active control, is then considered. The control strategies considered are based on knowledge of the road surface between the front and the rear wheels. This so-called preview information is obtained indirectly by reconstruction from online measurements of accelerations and suspension deflections. The various schemes were implemented in a discrete time controller using dSpace hardware