Advances in Engineering Research, volume 166

3rd International Conference on Automation, Mechanical Control and Computational Engineering (AMCCE 2018)

Study on Simulation for Vehicle Ride Comfort Based on MATLAB

Fengping Cao1, a ,,Chunmei Chen2, b and Lifa Zhou3, c

1
School of Shandong Jiaotong University, Jinan 250357, China.
2
School of Shandong Transport Vocational Collage, Weifang 261206, China.
3
Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Limited South Asia & America Area, Jinan 250101, China
a
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Keywords: Automobile ride comfort, Matlab/Simlink, Simulation analysis

Abstract. Ride comfort is an important performance index of a automobile, and it directly affects
people's riding comfort. Suspension system is an important factor affecting the ride comfort of the car.
In the paper, the influence of suspension on vehicle ride comfort was analyzed, then a model of
automobile suspension system based on Matlab/Simulink was established to simulate the ride
comfort of vehicles. The study provided a research method for analyzing the impact of suspension
system on vehicle ride comfort, and also provided reference for optimization of suspension
parameters during vehicle design.

Introduction
With the development of society and economy, people's living standards have been continuously
improved, and there is a higher requirement for the comfort of the car's riding environment[1]. To
ensure that the car's vibration is within a certain range, so that the driver can have good psychological
and physiological conditions under long-term driving conditions. Excellent ride comfort is not only
the guarantee to improve the riding comfort, but also important to the safe driving[2]. In the paper, the
effect of suspension system on ride comfort based on Matlab was simulated and analyzed, and it can
provide a research method for optimizing suspension parameters during vehicle design.

Effect of Suspension System on Vehicle Ride Comfort

The vehicle suspension system is generally consisted of spring, damper, oriented framework and
anti-roll bar. Suspension is divided into two categories according to the control form: passive
suspension and active suspension[3].
Suspension Stiffness. Suspension stiffness determines the natural frequency of the suspension
system. The car has high requirements for ride comfort, and usually chooses a relatively low body
natural frequency to obtain smaller acceleration. The general frequency range of a car is within
1~1.5Hz. On the contrary, off-road vehicles and trucks usually have poor road conditions, and a
relatively high natural body frequency must be selected. Generally, the frequency range selected is
1.5 to 2 Hz.
Suspension Static Deflection. Suspension static deflection directly affects the body natural
frequency. When the elastic properties of the suspension used are linear changes, the static deflection
of the front suspension f c1 can be expressed as follows.
f c1 = m1 g k1 (1)
Equation (2) is the static deflection of the rear suspension f c . 2

f c2 = m2 g k 2 (2)
Where k1 , k2 are the suspension stiffness of front and rear suspension respectively, m1 , m2 are
the sprung mass of front and rear suspension respectively and g is the gravitational acceleration [3].

Copyright © 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

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Unsprung Mass. When the unsprung mass is large, the impact load received by the suspension
system and transmitted to the vehicle body is also large. When the unsprung mass of the independent
suspension is small, the impact and vibration from the road surface can reduced and the ride comfort
of the car improved. The effect of unsprung mass on ride comfort is often evaluated by the ratio of
unsprung mass to sprung mass. The smaller the value, the better.
Relative Damping Ratio. When the vehicle suspension has only elastic elements and no vibration
damping device, the vibration of the vehicle suspension mass will continue for a long time, making
the passenger feel uncomfortable. Therefore, there must be damping force in the suspension to damp
vibration. After the suspension stiffness is determined, the damping force must be properly selected
in order to give full play to the damping effect of the suspension. When the damper of the suspension
system is linear, the speed of vibration attenuation can be evaluated by the relative damping ratio. The
expression is shown as follows[4].
c
ζ = (3)
2 km
Where c is the equivalent damping coefficient of the suspension damper, k is the suspension
stiffness and m is the suspension mass.

System Model Based on Matlab

Road Excitation Model. Road roughness is often used to describe the level of road surface
undulations and is the main incentive for the car to drive. The filter white noise that is relatively easy
to implement is used as the road surface input model, which is shown as follows [2].
−2π f 0 q ( t ) + 2π G0 u0 w( t )
q ′( t ) = (4)
Where q (t ) is the pavement displacement, G0 is the Road roughness coefficient, u 0 is the
vehicle speed, w(t ) is the white noise with a mean of zero and f 0 is the lower frequency cut-off.
Fig.1 is the established simulation model of road excitation based on Matlab/simulink[5].

Fig.1. Simulation model of road excitation

Passive Suspension System Model. The automobile is a more complex vibration system and
should be simplified according to the problem to be analyzed.
The automotive vibration system can usually be reduced to a single-mass system and a dual-mass
system. Because the dual-mass system can not only reflect the dynamic characteristics of the body
part, but also reflect the dynamic characteristics of the wheel part in the generation of high-frequency
resonance, it is closer to the actual situation of the automotive suspension system. Therefore, the
general automotive vibration system is reduced to a dual-quality system. Fig.2 is the model of a
two-degree-of-freedom vibration system for a passive suspension, where z 1 , z 2 is the vertical
displacement of the wheel and body respectively, q is the input road roughness function, m 2 is
the sprung mass, m1 is the unsprung mass, K is the suspension stiffness, C is the damping coefficient,
and K t is the tire stiffness.

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Fig. 2. Two-degree-of-freedom vibration system model of passive suspension

The coordinates are selected at their respective equilibrium positions, then the differential
equation can be described as follows[6].
m1 z1 = K ( z2 − z1 ) + C ( z2 − z1 ) − kt ( z1 − q)
 (5)
m2 z2 = K ( z1 − z2 ) + C ( z1 − z2 )
According to the above physical model and differential equations, a passive suspension system
simulation model is established based on Matlab/Simulink, which is shown as Fig.3.

Fig.3. Passive suspension system simulation model

Active Suspension System Model. The active suspension can overcome the defects of the passive
suspension. It adopts passive or active control components and is a closed-loop control system.
According to the road conditions and the running status of the vehicle, the electronic control unit
ECU performs real-time calculations, then issue corresponding instructions to the damper controller,
take the initiative to react, control the vehicle suspension parameters, so the damping of the
suspension is always optimal [11].
The two-degree-of-freedom vibration system model of active suspension is shown in Fig.4. The
system motion status signal is input to the ECU through the sensor, and the ECU issues an instruction
to the force generator after analysis to generate an active control force to adjust the characteristics of
the suspension system.

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Fig.4. Two-degree-of-freedom vibration system model of active suspension

In Fig.4, l1 , l 2 , l 3 are the feedback coefficients obtained according to the optimization; other
parameters are the same as the passive suspension system, u is the active control force, and it can be
described as follows.
u = −(l1 ( z 2 − z1 ) + l 2 z1 + l3 z 2 ) (6)
The equation of motion can be expressed as follows.
m1 z1 = l1 ( z2 − z1 ) + l2 z1 + l3 z2 − kt ( z1 − q )

m2 z2 − l1 ( z2 − z1 ) − l2 z1 − l3 z2 (7)
According to the above physical model and motion equations, the active suspension system
simulation model established based on Matlab/Simulink is shown as Fig.5.

Fig.5. Passive suspension system simulation model

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Simulation Experiment
Time-domain Simulation of Road Excitation. The simulation results are shown in Fig.6 while the
values of the parameters are f 0 =0.1Hz, G =64, u 0 =20m/s.
0

Fig.6. Simulation results of road excitation

Simulation of Suspension System. For the passive suspension system simulation model in Fig. 4,
the parameters are as follows: m1 = 24kg , m 2 = 240kg , K = 9475 N / m , Kt = 85270 N / m ,
c = 754 N ⋅ m / s . While for the active suspension system simulation model, the feedback
coefficients are as follows: l1 = 7592 N / m , l2 = 481N ⋅ s / m , l3 = 1916 N ⋅ s / m . The simulation
results of body displacement, body acceleration, and suspension travel are shown as Fig.7, where the
solid line represent the simulation results of the active suspension, and the dashed line represents the
passive suspension.

(a) Body displacement

(b)Body acceleration (c)Suspension travel

Fig.7. Comparison of simulation results of the passive and active suspension

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Fig. 7 (a) indicates that the active suspension has smaller amplitude than passive suspension under
the same road surface roughness excitation. It can be seen from Fig. 7 (b) that the body acceleration of
the active suspension is smaller than that of the passive suspension, which indicate that the active
suspension can attenuate the vibration better. It can be seen from Fig. 7 (c) that the active suspension
travel is smaller than the passive suspension, but the difference is significant. This is related to the
selection of the active suspension feedback coefficient. In the specific design, the optimal value can
be selected by optimizing the design to achieve the desired effect.

Conclusions
In the paper, a simulation algorithm of automobile ride comfort based on Matlab is presented. Firstly,
the influence of automobile suspension system on vehicle ride comfort is analyzed, including
suspension stiffness, suspension static deflection, unsprung mass and relative damping ratio. Then,
the road excitation model, passive and active suspension system models were established
respectively. The simulation were executed using Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results show that
the active suspension can dynamically adjust the stiffness and damping, so that the car can better
absorb the impact and attenuate the vibration in the driving process, thus showing a better ride
comfort.

Acknowledgements
This research is supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2015EL027),
thanks to Natural Science Foundation committee of Shandong Province.

References
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[3] Yu Fan. Automotive System Dynamics. Beijing: Machinery Industry Press, 2005.(in Chinese)
[4] Zhou Changcheng. Automotive Ride and Suspension System Design. Beijing: Machinery
Industry Press, 2011.(in Chinese)
[5] Li Ying. The basic system modeling and simulation of Simulink. Xi'an: Xidian University Press,
2004. (in Chinese)
[6] Li Yida. Control System Design and Simulation. Beijing: Qinghua University Press, 2009. (in
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