Ride comfort parameter optimisation of an 8 x 8 armoured military vehicle using Taguchi method

Design parameters in military vehicles at the conceptual design stage have an impact on the results that will affect the fatigue of the driver. This article suggests the Taguchi optimisation methodology to determine the most comfortable design parameters for an 8 x 8 military vehicle. The full vehicle model prepared in MSC Adams/Car was driven over vertical and lateral dynamics related test cases to get experiment results for Taguchi design. In the study, it was obtained which of the design parameters had a significant effect on vehicle ride comfort and handling. The equations that estimate both the vehicle ride comfort and the vehicle handling according to the design parameters were obtained. This study improved the ride comfort of a four-axle military vehicle driver using the Taguchi method and developed a procedure that could be used in future design studies.