Active Control of Quarter Car Suspension System using Linear Quadratic Regulator

Abstract

The automobile is composed of many systems. One of these is the suspension system. The main functions of the automotive suspension system are to provide vehicle support, stability and directional control during handling manoeuvres and to provide effective isolation from road disturbances. The suspension system has to balance the tradeoff between ride comfort and handling performance. This paper analyses the passive suspension system and active suspension system using a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controller. A linear quarter-car model is used for the analysis and simulation. The performance of the LQR controller is compared with the passive suspension system. The simulation results show that the LQR controller improves vehicle ride comfort.