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In this work the effects of vehicle vertical vibrations on the tires/road cornering forces, and then consequently on vehicle lateral dynamics are studied. This is achieved through a ride model and a handling model linked together by a non-linear tire model. The ride model is a half vehicle with four degrees of freedom (bounce and pitch motions for vehicle body and two bounce motions for the two axles). The front and rear suspension are a hydro-pneumatic slow-active systems with 6 Hz cut-off frequency designed based on linear optimal control theory. Vehicle lateral dynamics is modeled as two degrees (yaw and lateral motions) incorporating a driver model. An optimal rear wheel steering control in addition to the front steering is considered in the vehicle model to represent a Four Wheel Steering (4WS) system. The tire non-linearity is represented by the Magic Formula tire model.

The dynamics of vehicles became one of the most important aspects for current developments of electronically controlled steering, suspension and traction/braking systems. However, most of the published research on vehicle maneuverability doesn't take into account the effect of the dynamic tire load and its variation on uneven roads. Clearly, it was stated that using a suitable active suspension system could reduce this dynamic tire load. This dynamic tire load is playing a vital role as it is the major link between the vertical and lateral forces exerted on the road, which affects the lateral dynamics of the vehicle. In this paper, a practical hydro-pneumatic limited bandwidth active suspension system with and without wheelbase preview control is used to study its influence on the vehicle stability in lateral direction. The model is a longitudinal half car with four degrees of freedom.

In this paper, an electronically controlled hydraulic semiactive system for the seat suspension of wheeled tractors is theoretically designed to improve the driver ride comfort. Using a three degrees of freedom mathematical model, the damping force controller is designed based on optimal control theory and Nelder / Mead Simplex minimization method to perform a limited state feedback information. The controller considers the damping constraint which adapts the actual damping between the prescribed limits. The model results are generated when excited by a statistically random road profile. The results are presented in time and frequency domains. The driver vertical acceleration for semi-active and conventional passive systems are compared at similar root mean square (r.m.s) value of suspension working space. The semiactive system achieved a significant improvement, 18 percent, over the passive system with no power requirement from the tractor engine.