Semi-active Suspension Control

The book provides an overview of vehicle ride control employing smart semiactive damping systems. In this context the term smart refers to the ability to modify the control logic in response to measured vehicle ride and handling indicators.The book analyses the different facets of the technical problems involved when designing a novel smart damping system and the technical challenges involved in its control. The emphasis of this work is not only on modelling and control algorithm design, but also on the practical aspects of its implementation. It describes the practical constraints encountered and trade-offs pursued in real-life engineering practice when designing and testing a novel smart damping system. Hence sound mathematical modelling is balanced by large sections on experimental implementation as well as case studies, where a variety of automotive applications are described, covering different applications of ride control, namely semi-active suspensions for a saloon car, seat suspensions for vehicles not equipped with a primary suspension and control of heavy-vehicle dynamic tyre loads to reduce road damage and improve handling.The book can be fruitful reading for mechanical engineering students (at both undergraduate and postgraduate level) interested in vehicle dynamics, electrical and control engineering students majoring in electromechanical and electrohydraulic control systems.