Application of machine learning method to control the

vibration of the car’s suspension system

Huaxiang Zhou1, Vanliem Nguyen2, Renqiang Jiao3, Yuan Huan3
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hubei Polytechnic University, Huangshi, 435003, China
Hubei Key Laboratory of Intelligent Conveying Technology and Device, Hubei Polytechnic University,
Huangshi, 435003, China
2Corresponding author

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected]

Received 30 April 2021; accepted 7 June 2021

DOI https://doi.org/10.21595/vp.2021.22025
Copyright © 2021 Huaxiang Zhou, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract. A machine learning method (MLM) developed based on fuzzy logic control (FLC) has
been proposed to control the vibration of the car’s suspension systems. To apply the MLM, a
quarter car model with two degrees of freedom has been established via MATLAB/Simulink. The
reduction of the vertical car body’s acceleration response is the objective function. Through FLC’s
logic rule and data maps of the different road surfaces, the MLM of ANFIS has been trained via
its self-learning process to control the car’s suspension system. The result indicates that the
vibration response of the car’s suspension system controlled by both FLC and MLM is reduced in
comparison without the control. Particularly, the MLM has an obvious effect on reducing the
acceleration response of the car body under different excitations of the road surface in comparison
with the FLC. Consequently, the car’s suspension system controlled by the MLM could further
enhance the car’s ride comfort compared to the traditional control methods.
Keywords: car’s suspension system, fuzzy logic control, machine learning method.

1. Introduction

To enhance the vehicle’s ride comfort, the combined control methods have been developed
and applied to control the vehicle’s suspension systems, such as the optimization of the fuzzy logic
control (FLC) by using the genetic algorithm (GA), Skyhook-Neuro fuzzy controller, 𝐻 -FLC
controller, or combined FLC and PID controller [1-3]. Results indicated that the performance of
the vehicle’s suspension system controlled by the combined controls was better than the single
controls to improve the ride comfort of vehicles, especially, with some control methods combined
by FLC. However, the effectiveness of the FLC was strongly dependent on FLC’s rule which was
established via designer’s experience. In order to solve this problem, based on the multi-objective
optimizations of the GA, the optimization of the control rules of the FLC had been researched and
applied to the cab’s isolation systems of the vibratory rollers and the heavy trucks [4-7]. Results
showed that the optimal control methods had an obvious effect on reducing the acceleration
response of the vehicles in comparison without the optimization. However, the researches also
showed that the optimal controls were only effective when the vehicle working on one operating
condition, the effectiveness of the optimal controls had been limited when the vehicle working
conditions had been changed.
Nowadays, the machine learning technology (MLM) had being interested by researchers
[8-10]. Based on the ANFIS tool of MATLAB, a self-learning algorithm could be developed via
FLC’s rule and in-outputs of the vehicle model to better control the ride comfort of vehicles as
well as limit disadvantages of optimal controls. However, this issue has not yet concerned by the
researchers. Thus, a quarter car vibration model with two DOF has been established via
MATLAB/Simulink. The MLM developed based on the FLC is then researched and applied to
control the vibration of the car’s suspension systems. The performance of the MLM evaluated via
the reduction of the vertical car body’s acceleration response is the objective function of this study.
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HUAXIANG ZHOU, VANLIEM NGUYEN, RENQIANG JIAO, YUAN HUAN

2. Method

2.1. Dynamics model of the quarter cars

A quarter car model with two degrees of freedom including a car body mass (𝑚 /kg); a
suspension system characterized by a passive damping coefficient (𝑐/Ns.m-1), control damping
coefficient (𝑐 /Ns.m-1), and a stiffness coefficient (𝑘/N.m-1); a car’s axle mass (𝑚 /kg); and a
vibration excitation of the road surface (𝑞/m) are defined as in Fig. 1. Herein, 𝑧 and 𝑧 are two
degrees of freedom of the vertical vibration of the car’s body and axle, 𝑘 is the stiffness
coefficient of the car’s wheel (N.m-1).

zb
mb
cctrl c k
ma za
kt q
Fig. 1. The car’s dynamics model

Based on car’s vibration model in Fig. 1, its vibration equations has been described as in
Eq. (1):

𝑚𝑏 𝑧𝑏 + (𝑐 + 𝑐𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑙 )(𝑧𝑎 − 𝑧𝑏 ) + 𝑘(𝑧𝑎 − 𝑧𝑏 ) = 0,

(1)
𝑚𝑎 𝑧𝑎 − (𝑐 + 𝑐𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑙 )(𝑧𝑎 − 𝑧𝑏 ) − 𝑘(𝑧𝑎 − 𝑧𝑏 ) = 𝑘𝑡 (𝑞 − 𝑧𝑎 ).

2.2. Excitations of the car’s model

In order for the MLM to learn FLC’s control rules and effectively control a car’s suspension
system under the different operating conditions, a map of the different data of road surfaces should
be established. In this study, the different data of road surfaces including the random, bump, and
harmonic road surfaces are applied as follows:
Random road surface: According to the ISO-8068 [11], the two road surfaces of level A and
B are given as the car’s excitations as follows:

𝑞(𝑡) + 𝛿𝑣2 𝑞(𝑡) = 𝛿 𝑆(𝑓)𝑣 × 𝑤(𝑡), (2)

where 𝑆(𝑓) the spectral density of the road established in a frequency range 𝑓 and speed of cars
[4-5], 𝑤(𝑡) is defined as the random function of white noise with a road’s spatial frequency 𝛿.
Two types of 𝑆(𝑓) of random road levels A and B according to the ISO are then chosen and
simulated the result. The random road excitation is described as follows:

Level B, t ≤ 10 s,
𝑞(𝑡) = (3)
Level A, 10 < 𝑡 ≤ 20 s.

Bump property of road surface: The bump property of the road surface has been defined by:

0.06 cos 𝜔𝑡 , 0 ≤ 𝑡 ≤ 2.5,

𝑞(𝑡) = (4)
0, else,

where 𝜔 = 2𝜋𝑣 ⁄𝑆 in which 𝑆 is defined as the wavelength of road surface and 𝑣 is the car speed.

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 APPLICATION OF MACHINE LEARNING METHOD TO CONTROL THE VIBRATION OF THE CAR’S SUSPENSION SYSTEM.
HUAXIANG ZHOU, VANLIEM NGUYEN, RENQIANG JIAO, YUAN HUAN

Harmonic road surface: The excitation of the harmonic function is given by [11]:

𝐴 = 0.015, 𝑡 ≤ 10,
𝑞(𝑡) = 𝐴 sin𝜔𝑡, (5)
𝐴 = 0.02, 10 < 𝑡 ≤ 20,

where 𝜔 = 2𝜋𝑓 = 2𝜋𝑣 ⁄𝑆.

The vibration excitations of the road surface defined in Eqs. (3-5) is then computed and
selected as the input values for the model of cars to control the FLC and MLM via the
MATLAB/Simulink software.

3. Fuzzy logic control and machine learning method

3.1. Fuzzy logic control

The FLC’s structure includes an fuzzification interface, FIS, and defuzzification interface. The
crisp values of FLC is transformed by linguistic variables (LV), then, the fuzzy inference system’s
inference rules is applied to solve the if-then of FLC, then, LV is transformed back to crisp values
via the physical values to control the system [12-14]. To apply the FLC on the car model,
𝑒 = 𝑧 − 𝑧 (relative displacement) and 𝑒𝑐 (relative velocity) of the car’s suspension are two
input data and the 𝑐 is the output value of the FLC. The linguistic variables and FLC’s values
have been listed in Table 1, and FLC’s control rules are given in Table 2.

Table 1. Linguistic variables and values Table 2. Control rules of the FLC [7]
LV 𝑒 𝑒𝑐 LV 𝑐 (kNs/m) 𝑒𝑐
𝑐
PB 0.20 0.3 u0 1.0 NB NM NS Z PS PM PB
PM 0.15 0.2 u1 1.5 NB 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢
PS 0.10 0.1 u2 2.0 NM 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢
Z 0 0 u3 2.5 NS 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢
NS –0.10 –0.1 u4 3.0 𝑒 Z 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢
NM –0.15 –0.2 u5 3.5 PS 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢
NB –0.20 –0.3 u6 4.0 PM 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢
PB 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢 𝑢

In Table 1, the linguistic variables are defined by positive big (PB), positive medium (PM),
positive small (PS), zero (Z), negative small (NS), negative medium (NM), negative big (NB).
Based on the control rules in Table 2, forty-seven rules of if-then in FIS is given as follows:
1. If 𝑒 = PB and 𝑒𝑐 = PB then 𝑐 =𝑢 ;
2. If 𝑒 = PB and 𝑒𝑐 = PM then 𝑐 =𝑢 ;
...
49. If 𝑒 = NB and 𝑒𝑐 = NB then 𝑐 =𝑢 ;
The centroid method of Madani [6, 15] has been used to compute the FIS. Based on the control
results of the FLC, the MLM is then used to learn the control rules of the FLC and applied to
control the car’s suspension system.

3.2. Machine learning method

The FLC’s effectiveness is only obtained on a condition of the road surface. In the actual
operation condition of the cars, the random road surface of ISO levels A or B, or the bump and
harmonic road surfaces can randomly appear, thus, the FLC’s effectiveness is limited. Through
data maps of different road surfaces and FLC’s logic rules, a learning technique in ANFIS [9, 10]
has been then used to control the car’s suspension system, as shown in Fig. 2.
In ANFIS, the input signals a is defined by 𝑋 = 𝑥 , 𝑥 , … , 𝑥 and an output signal of 𝑦 is:

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HUAXIANG ZHOU, VANLIEM NGUYEN, RENQIANG JIAO, YUAN HUAN

𝑦=𝐹 𝛾 𝑥 −𝛼 , (6)

where 𝛾 are weights, 𝐹 is the trigger function, and 𝛼 is the neural-activation-threshold.

Input of dynamic parameters MLM

and different road surfaces

Simulink Fuzzy

Result of MLM
"e" and "ec" Simulink

Neuro-adaptive
Result of FLC
learning Fuzzy
FLC
Fig. 2. Control algorithm flowchart and computational model

In this study, based on the different road surfaces, control rulers of the FLC, and the car’s
model, the data maps of the input signals “𝑥 = 𝑒𝑐 and 𝑥 = 𝑒" and output signal 𝑦 = 𝑐 are
computed. An ANFIS has then applied to calculate the adaptive damping coefficient 𝑦 = 𝑐 via
the training and machine learning of the MLM [16], shown in Fig. 3(a). Based on the car’s
parameters including 𝑚 = 282 kg, 𝑚 = 45 kg, 𝑘 = 17900 (N/m), 𝑘 = 165790 (N/m),
𝑐 = 1000 (Ns/m), the car’s speed 20 m.s-1, and parameters of the MLM including the number of
constituent rules of 3, training method of Hybrid, error of training 10-5, and learning time of 102,
the training result has been shown in Fig. 3(b) and it is then applied to MLM to control car’s
suspension system model.

Fuzzification Inference Defuzzification

x1 y
x2

a) Neuro-fuzzy control b) Training process result

Fig. 3. Neuro-fuzzy control model and training result

4. Analysis results

Under random road surface: Based on the car’s operating parameters and the different road
surfaces, a random road excitation in Eq. (3) is simulated and plotted in Fig. 4(a). Under the
random excitation in Fig. 4(a), the acceleration response of the car’s body is plotted in Fig. 4(b).
The results show that the acceleration response of the vertical car’s body with the FLC and
MLM is significantly reduced in comparison with the passive suspension. Besides, the comparison
result between the FLC and MLM in the same Fig. 4(b) shows that the acceleration response of
the car’s body with the MLM is better than that of the FLC under a simulation condition. This
means that the car’s ride comfort using the MLM is significantly improved under the random road
surface.
Under a bump road surface: Based on the parameters of the bump road surface 𝑆 = 20 m and
𝑞 = 0.06 m, a bump road excitation in Eq. (4) is then plotted in Fig. 5(a). Unde this bump road
excitation, the acceleration response of the car’s body is then simulated plotted in Fig. 5(b).

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HUAXIANG ZHOU, VANLIEM NGUYEN, RENQIANG JIAO, YUAN HUAN

ab (m.s-2)
a) The random road surface b) Vertical car’s body acceleration response
Fig. 4. Results under a road combination of ISO levels A and B

a) The bump road surface b) Vertical car’s body acceleration response

Fig. 5. The control result under a bump road surface

a) The harmonic road surface b) Vertical car’s body acceleration response

Fig. 6. The control result under a harmonic road surface

The result in Fig. 5(b) also shows that the acceleration response of the vertical car’s body with
both the FLC and MLM is smaller than the result of the passive suspension. Additionally, the
acceleration response of the vertical car’s body using the MLM is also reduced in comparison with
the FLC under the same simulation conditions. Thus, the MLM is good under the bump road
surface.
Under a harmonic road surface: Similar, a harmonic road surface of Eq. (5) shown in Fig. 6(a)
is also used to simulate and analyze the MLM’s effectiveness. The simulation result of the
acceleration response of the car’s body has been indicated as in Fig. 6(b). Observing the result in
Fig. 6(b), the acceleration response of the vertical car’s body with the MLM is similar to the
simulation conditions of the random and bump road surfaces. It means that the car’s ride comfort
with the MLM is better than both the FLC and passive suspension under a simulation condition.
Thus, the car’s suspension used the MLM is also effective under a harmonic function.
Via the numerical simulations of MLM under different conditions of cars, it can conclude that
MLM has an obvious effect on controlling the car’s ride comfort.

5. Conclusions

Based on map data inputs of different excitations of the road into FLC, the MLM’s
effectiveness in improving the car’s ride comfort is better than the FLC under the different
simulation conditions.
To have the learning data, the experiment research on the actual road conditions to build FLC’s
logic rules need to be done. These problems are difficult to solve. However, through the different
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data of roads and FLC’s logic rules, MLM in ANFIS could learn the control rule of the FLC to
further improve car’s suspension system but without the designer’s experience, and it is the
innovation of this study.
This research result is also applied to control the vibration isolation systems of other vehicles
such as the heavy trucks, vibratory rollers, and trains.

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Teaching and Research Project of Hubei Polytechnic
University (No. 21xjz04y) and the Key Scientific Research Project of Hubei Polytechnic
University (No. 21xjz02A).

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