Optimization of vehicle suspension parameters with use of evolutionary computation

Abstract

The main purpose of vehicle suspension is to achieve good driving stability and passenger comfort regardless of road surface. These requirements are often contradictory. This article aims to show the possibilities offered by a combination of modeling in a virtual environment and evolutionary computation in the process of optimization. Mathematical half-car model was created in Matlab/Simulink. Passive suspension parameters (damping and stiffness coefficients) were optimized with use of evolutionary computation. Results from simulations of model with original and optimized suspension parameters were compared. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.