Experimental Validation of a Half-Vehicle Suspension Model

A half-vehicle suspension ride model has been developed in the Control Systems Engineering Group of Vehicle Systems Synthesis/Analysis (VSSA) Department, General Motors Corp., as one of its basic system models used for various controlled suspension analysis and designs. As an important step in this development, a study was recently conducted to experimentally validate this model. The present paper will provide a summary of the general techniques used and the main results obtained in this study. In the work, the half-vehicle ride model was validated using a data set of a current production car equipped with an adjustable damping suspension. At the current stage of the work, the vehicle low frequency ride control characteristics was emphasized. Hence, the model was validated based on a comparison of an actual test vehicle's and the model's simulated responses over a particular road event on the Ride & Handling Loop at the General Motors' Milford Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan. System identification techniques were further proposed in this work as a systematic approach for fine-tuning the model parameters. Effectiveness of using this approach for improving simulation quality has been demonstrated. Moreover, significance of the inclusion of suspension friction in the simulation model was also investigated. Although the present experimental validation work was performed based on a particular vehicle and its model, the techniques developed through this study are believed to be generally applicable for the development and validation of other vehicle system models.