Integrated model-based approach for the optimisation of vehicle ride comfort and handling characteristics: integrated vehicle dynamics model design

Recently, the research work for the improvement of the ride comfort quality and dynamic characteristics for vehicle handling performance is taking increasing attention. Although much work has been done on numerical and experimental studies to improve the ride quality and dynamic characteristics, many applications face limitations with respect to conflict between ride comfort and vehicle handling, which mostly depend on the suspension characteristics. This research presents an integrated model-based approach to design optimised suspension systems to improve vehicle dynamics behaviour and to eliminate the drawbacks of physical testing and reduce the cost. This paper is about the part of an ongoing research on vehicle ride comfort and handling optimisation, and integrated full vehicle model design and model validation studies are given in this paper. The optimisation model will be presented in another paper to choose a compromise solution between ride comfort and handling performance.