Modeling, Simulation and Analysis of the

nonlinear behavior of semi-active suspension

systems using fuzzy logic

Contents
Introduction
Problem statement
Purpose of the study
Objectives
Contribution
Literature review
Methodology
Gantt chart
References

Introduction
The suspension system is one of the important system in the vehicle. A
traditional automotive suspension system consists of spring and damper.
The spring stores the kinetic energy while damper dissipates the energy.
The suspension spring is usually made of steel in the form of coil or leaf
springs and provides suspension force.
The damper are used to dissipate the energy from suspension motion,
operating by viscous action of the oil as it is forced through the small
orifices within the damper.

Function of suspension system

The major function of the suspension system is to isolate the vehicle
body from the road disturbances because it is the only source which
connects the vehicle body to the tyres.
It plays an important role in:
ride comfort, which is mainly associated with vibrations transmitted as
a result of vehicle vertical motion.
road holding or vehicle handling, means to provide a firm contact
between the road surface and the tyres.

Types of suspension system

Suspension systems are divided into
Passive suspension system
Active suspension system

Passive suspension system

Passive suspension system consists of two parallel components, with
spring and damping properties which are time invariant. Passive
elements control the vertical motion by storing or dissipating the kinetic
energy. No external energy is directly supplied to this type of
suspension system and there is no mechanism for feedback control.

Passive suspension system

Active suspension system

It is further divided into:
Semi-active
Fully active
Semi-active suspension incorporates a variable damper instead of
passive damper. It requires some sensors and controlling board for
tuning the damping coefficients. In this case, external power is required
to operate the system.

Fully active suspension system increases ride comfort by incorporating

a hydraulic actuator between sprung and unsprung mass. It requires
sensing device, control system and external power source.
The sensing devices are accelerometer or potentiometers located at
different parts measure the vehicle motion. Control system supplies
commands to actuators. The external power source which may hydraulic
or electric motor, draws power from the engine to generate external
forces for the suspension system.
It is a closed loop system.

Problem statement
Basic components of suspension system behaves non-linearly but due to
simplicity most of the researchers considered it as a linear system.
For proper modeling and analysis of suspension system its dynamic
response should considered for non-linearity in spring and damper.

Purpose of study
The vibrations transmitted to the vehicle body have many drawbacks
such as reduced vehicle frame life and negative biological effects on
passenger. The purpose of the study is to improve the vehicles
suspension performance by proper modelling and analysis of the
suspension system.

Objectives
The objectives of the study is:
to obtain mathematical model for the nonlinear semi-active suspension
systems for a two degrees of freedom quarter car model
to develop fuzzy logic controller for nonlinear semi-active suspension
system.
to obtain numerical simulation results using Matlab Simulink.
to analyse the results obtained from the Matlab Simulink model.

Contribution
The significance of this research is that
A mathematical model for non-linear semi active suspension system
will be obtained.
A fuzzy logic controller will be developed for the suspension system.
Simulation results will be obtained in Matlab/Simulink.
The simulation results obtained from the Matlab/Simulink will be then
analysed.

Literature review
By the early 19th century, wooden springs were used in the light onehorse carriages and steel springs in the heavy ones.
These springs were made of low carbon steel and usually took the form
of multiple leaf layer springs. These springs were for low speed
vehicles.
Advancement in the suspension systems came in the last few decades.
Modern suspension system provides good ride comfort and road
holding.

S.No

Researcher

Research area

Allyene & Hedrick

Review the non linear control of active suspension system for a quarter car
model

Tusset

Studied control strategies for a quarter car non linear semi-active suspension
system using MR damper.

Ozgur Demir et al

Derived non linear mathematical model for half vehicle model. A hybrid fuzzy
logic controller which consists of fuzzy logic and PID controllers was designed
for reducing vibrations level

Amar Abdulshaheed

Derived mathematical model of a full vehicle non linear active suspension

system taking into account all the motions of vehicle body.

Abroon Jamal et al

Modeling of passive and semi-active suspension system for a quarter car model
using different control strategies such as skyhook, ground hook and hybrid
fuzzy.

S.No

Researchers

Research area

S.H.Sawant and J.A.Tamboli

Analysis and comparison of passive and semi active suspension systems

with non linear parameters subjected to random road excitations.

Lajqi and Pehan

Introduce a design and optimization procedure for active and semi-active

non linear suspension system regarding terrain vehicles.

Mohsin Jamel et al

Develop a controller by combing optimal control and intelligent control

techniques for non linear quarter car suspension system.

Abroon Jamal et al

A novel optimized control system is developed using relative

displacement and relative velocity across the masses as inputs to the FLC
resulting in an output of the modulating damping coefficient for the semi
active suspension system.

10

S.P.Chawan and S.H.Sawant

They considered non linearities of spring and damper for a simplified

passive quarter car model and develop an experimental setup for this
model

Conclusion
A literature review for vehicle suspension model shows that many
researchers have proposed control system for linear or non-linear
quarter, half or full vehicle models.
For simplicity, linear models have been used. Very few researchers
used non-linear models for analysis.
It is also concluded that semi-active suspension system is more
economical and flexible than other suspension systems.
This technology is new and still it needs to be developed for practical
applications.

Methodology Flow chart

A flow chart of methodology is given below:
Literature review
Mathematical modeling
Designing fuzzy logic
controller
Simulink model
Optimization of
controller through
PSO
Analysis of the
result

Methodology
The methodology for this research consists of the following steps:
A literature review of the suspension systems.
Mathematical modeling of nonlinear semi-active suspension system using
quarter car model.
Designing a fuzzy logic controller for semi-active suspension system in
Matlab fuzzy tool box.
Simulation of model in Simulink with respect to different road excitations.
Application of Particle swarm optimization to fuzzy logic controller.
Analysis of the simulation results.

References
[1]: A.Alleyne and J.K.Hedrick, non linear adaptive control of active suspensions, IEEE transactions on
control systems technology, Vol 3, no. 1.
[2]: A.M.Tusset, M.Rafikov, J.M.Baltazar, An Intelligent Controller Design for Magnetorheological Damper
(MR) Based on a Quarter car Model, Journal of vibrations and control, vol. 24, 2009.
[3]: O. Demir, I.Kiskin and S.Cetin, Modeling And Control Of Non Linear Half Vehicle Suspension System.,
springer science + business media, p. 13, 2011.
[4]: Aldair and A. Abdulshaheed, Neuro fuzzy controller based full vehicle non linear active suspension
systems, Brighton, UK: University of Sussex, 2012.
[5]: A.J.Qazi, A. Khan, M. Khan and S. Noor, Parametric Analysis of Various Control Algorithms for Semi
Active Suspension System, Engineering And Applied Sciences, vol. 31, no. 1, p. 9, 2012.
[6]: S. Sawant and J. Tamboli, ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF VEHICLE DYNAMIC SYSTEM WITH
NONLINEAR PARAMETERS SUBJECTED TO ACTUAL RANDOM ROAD EXCITATIONS, International
Journal Of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), vol. 3, no. 2, p. 16, 2012.

[7]: S. Lajqi and S. Pehan, Designs and Optimizations of Active and Semi-Active Non-Linear Suspension
Systems for a Terrain Vehicle, Journal of Mechanical Engineering, p. 12, 2012.
[8]: M.Jamil, A.A.Janjua, I. Rafique, S.I.Butt, Y.Ayaz and S.O.Gillani, Optimal Control Based Intelligent
Controller for Active Suspension System, Life Science Journal, vol. 10, no. 12s, p. 7, 2013.
[9]: A.Qazi, A. Khan, M. khan, M. Kamran and K. Azam, Performance Analysis of a Semiactive Suspension
System with Particle Swarm Optimization and Fuzzy Logic Control, The Scientific World Journal, p. 12, 2014.
[10]: S. Chawan, S. Sawant and J. Tamboli, Experimental verification of quarter car vehicle dynamic system
subjected to harmonic road excitation with non linear parameters, Journal of mechanical and civil engineering,
p. 7

The end