Improving the ride comfort of vehicle passenger using fuzzy sliding mode controller

Abstract

Attenuation of the adverse effects of vehicle vibrations on human health is a challenging problem. One common approach to solve this problem is to use various types of controllers in vehicle suspensions. In this study, in order to decrease the vehicle vibrations and hence improve the ride comfort, a fuzzy logic integrated sliding mode controller was designed. The performance of the controller was tested in a biodynamic human-vehicle combined model. The human body was considered as a lumped parameter model and incorporated into a full vehicle model. The biodynamic responses of a human body to vehicle vibrations were analyzed. Performances of the conventional sliding mode and fuzzy integrated sliding mode controllers were compared with those of a passive control strategy. According to the numerical results, the fuzzy sliding mode controller overcame both classic sliding mode and passive control approaches and decreased vehicle vibrations considerably. It can be deduced from the study that active suspension systems would play a key role in decreasing the negative effects of vehicle vibrations on human health, such as motion sickness, discomfort and spine injuries.