Optimization of Vehicle Ride Comfort and Handling Stability Based on TOPSIS Method

A detailed multi-body dynamic model of a passenger car was modeled using ADAMS/Car and then checked by the ride comfort and handling stability test results in this paper. The performance criterion for ride comfort evaluation was defined as the overall weighted acceleration root mean square (RMS) value of car body floor, while the roll angle and lateral acceleration of car body were considered as evaluation indicators for handling stability performance. Simultaneously, spring stiffness and shock absorber damping coefficients of the front and rear suspensions were taken as the design variables (also called factors), which were considered at three levels. On this basis, a L₉ orthogonal array was employed to perform the ride and handling simulations. Then the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method combined with the principal component analysis (PCA), was proposed to integrate the multiple performance criteria of vehicle ride comfort and handling stability into a single performance index known as relative closeness coefficient. Furthermore, the optimal suspension parameter setting was found according to the Taguchi methodology. In addition, confirmatory simulations were carried out to validate the optimal combination. The results indicated that the ride and handling performance of the passenger car was improved significantly by using the optimal combination. This also revealed that the proposed methodology was an available way for pursuing the multiple performance optimization problems.