Heuristic and Backstepping Control Strategies for Semiactive Suspension in Automotive Systems Equipped with MR Dampers

This paper deals with the problem of semiactive vibration reduction in a class of automotive systems. Most conventional suspensions use passive devices to absorb impacts and vibrations, which is generally difficult to adapt to the uncertain circumstances. Semiactive suspension techniques promise a solution to the above problem with some comparatively better features than active and passive suspension devices. In this work, the semiactive suspension with magnetorheological (MR) dampers is applied for the vibration attenuation. Both backstepping and heuristic control strategies are proposed. In the design of backstepping controller, the Dahl model of the MR damper is used to estimate the damping force of the semiactive device taking the control voltage and velocity inputs as variables and the semiactive control law takes into account the hysteretic nonlinearity of the MR damper. Two simple heuristic control strategies are also presented. The performance of the proposed semiactive suspension strategies are evaluated through an experimental platform for the semiactive vehicle suspension available in our laboratory.