Improvement of ride and handling performance of an automobile by a fuzzy logic controlled active suspension system

The subject of this research is to design, simulate and validate a fuzzy logic controller active suspension to improve ride and handling performance of an automobile. The controller was designed for a two degree of freedom quarter car model. The simulation is done whit MATLAB/SIMULINK software and due to the lack of experimental facilities to validate, the developed model and controller, we have used another software MATLAB/SIMMECHANICS for verification. The fuzzy logic controller designed for improving performance of the suspension system has two inputs 1) The sprung mass velocity 2) The sprung mass acceleration and the output of the controller is the actuator force Different inputs have been used as road input to excite the system These includes Step input, Random input, Impulse input, Band - limited white noise. These inputs are applied to both active and passive systems and the results are compared. The simulation results show considerable improvement in the response of active suspension system over the passive one.