Improving Vehicle Lateral Stability Based on Variable Stiffness and Damping Suspension System via MR Damper

The capability of a variable stiffness and damping (VSVD) suspension system via a magnetorheological (MR) damper on improving vehicle lateral stability is investigated in this paper. First, a type of the VSVD suspension system is briefly introduced with the application of variable damping to realize the capability of VSVD. Then, variable damping via the MR damper is extended, and the characteristics of damping force are presented with the Bouc-Wen model. Then, the proposed VSVD system is inserted into a full vehicle model as a front suspension system to control tire normal forces. A control strategy composed of a fuzzy controller that the output is wheel slip ratio and a simple on/off controller to model the application of VSVD is developed to illustrate its ability in improving vehicle stability. It is shown from simulation that VSVD can increase tire normal forces and make vehicles present better performance on lateral stability.