HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

GRADUATION THESIS
(ADVANCED PROGRAM)

BACKSTEPPING SLIDING MODE CONTROLLER FOR

NON-LINEAR ACTIVE SUSPENSION SYSTEM

PHAM VIET HUNG

hung.pv181891@sis.hust.edu.vn

Department of Automation Engineering

Major of Control and Automation

Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Tung Lam

Instructor’s signature
Department: Industrial Automation
School: School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
 Ha Noi, 8/2022
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
HANOI UNVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND Independence - Freedom - Happiness
TECHNOLOGY

GRADUATION THESIS

Full name: Pham Viet Hung Student ID: 20181891

Cohort: 63
School: School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Major: Control and Automation Engineering

Topic:
BACKSTEPPING SLIDING MODE CONTROLLER FOR
NON-LINEAR ACTIVE SUSPENSION SYSTEM

1. Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction
• Overview of active suspension systems
• Quarter-, half- and full-car models
Chapter 2: Backstepping sliding mode controller for quarter-car model
• Mathematical modeling
• Control objectives
• Zero dynamics
• Simulation results
Chapter 3: Backstepping sliding mode controller for half-car model
• Mathematical modeling
• Control objectives
• Zero dynamics and performance constraints
• Simulation results
Chapter 4: Backstepping sliding mode controller for full-car model
• Mathematical modeling
 • Control objectives
• Simulation results
2. Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Tung Lam
3. Topic assignment date:..........................................................................
4. Topic completion date:..........................................................................
Date......................................
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT INSTRUCTOR

STUDENT
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to express my gradtitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof.

Nguyen Tung Lam for guiding me during the process of making this thesis. I also want
to thank Mr. Le Duc Thinh, Mr. Dang Van Trong and other members of Mechatronics
Engineering Group (MEC) for supporting me when I was making my thesis by helping
me solving problems I encountered. Lastly, I want to express my greatest gradtitude to
my family, especially my parents, for supporting me to overcome every hardship.
Without them, I could not be able to finish this thesis.
Although many of my efforts have been made to finish this thesis, due to the lack
of knowledge and practical experience, it is certain that there still exists mistakes and
errors in my thesis. I am looking forward to receiving any feedback about my thesis
and improve my work and myself.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DANH MỤC KÝ HIỆU VÀ CHỮ VIẾT TẮT..................Error! Bookmark not defined.

TABLE OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................ii

LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................iii

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................iv

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................1

1.1 Introduction to suspension systems..........................................................................1

1.1.1 Overview............................................................................................................1
1.1.2 Control-Oriented Active Suspension Models.....................................................2
1.1.3 Road Excitation Model.......................................................................................7
1.1.4 Control Objectives of Active Suspension Systems............................................8

1.2 The Concept of Lyapunov Function-based Backstepping Sliding Mode Control. .9

CHAPTER 2. Backstepping Sliding Mode Controller for Active Suspension System

in Quarter-car Model.......................................................................................................12

2.1 Mathematical Model and Related Problems..........................................................12

2.1.1 Mathematical Model.........................................................................................12
2.1.2 Related Problems..............................................................................................14

2.2 Synthesis of BSMC for Quarter-car Model............................................................15

2.3 Simulation Results...................................................................................................16

2.4 Conclusion...............................................................................................................19

CHAPTER 3. Backstepping Sliding Mode Controller for Active Suspension System

in Half-car Model.............................................................................................................20

3.1 Mathematical Model and Problem Statement........................................................20

3.1.1 Mathematical Model.........................................................................................20
3.1.2 Problem Statement...........................................................................................21

3.2 Synthesis of BSMC for Half-car Model.................................................................22

3.2.1 Synthesis of control law...................................................................................22
3.2.2 Zero dynamics..................................................................................................24
3.2.3 Performance Constraints..................................................................................26
 3.3 Simulation Results...................................................................................................27

CHAPTER 4. Backstepping Sliding Mode Controller for Active Suspension System

in Full-car Model.............................................................................................................33

4.1 Mathematical Model...............................................................................................33

4.2 Synthesis of BSMC for Full-car model..................................................................35

4.3 Simulation Results...................................................................................................38

References.........................................................................................................................39
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations Meaning
DOF Degree Of Freedom
BSMC Backstepping Sliding Mode Control
PID Proportional – Integral - Derivative

i
 TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Suspension system illustration..................................................................1

Figure 2. Quarter-car active suspension model.........................................................3
Figure 3. Half-car Model..........................................................................................4
Figure 4. Full-car Model..........................................................................................5
Figure 5. (a) Non-linear spring and (b) piece-wise linear damper models................6
Figure 6. (a) Ideal trajectory and (b) Non-ideal trajectory of system in SMC..........9
Figure 7. Active suspension system in quarter-car model.......................................12
Figure 8. Vertical displacement of sprung mass.....................................................17
Figure 9. Vertical acceleration of sprung mass.......................................................18
Figure 10. Control input.........................................................................................18
Figure 11. Suspension travel...................................................................................18
Figure 12. Ratio between dynamic tire load and static tire load.............................19
Figure 13. Half-car Suspension Model...................................................................20
Figure 14. Vertical displacement in different control schemes...............................29
Figure 15. Vertical displacement in different reference time of BSMC..................29
Figure 16. Pitch angle in different control schemes................................................30
Figure 17. Pitch angle with different reference time of BSMC..............................30
Figure 18. Vertical acceleration in different control scheme...................................31
Figure 19. Vertical acceleration with different reference time of BSMC................31
Figure 20. Pitch acceleration in different control schemes.....................................32
Figure 21. Pitch acceleration with different reference time of BSMC....................32
Figure 22. Full-car suspension system model.........................................................33

ii
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Quarter-car model parameters...................................................................17

Table 2. Controller parameters for quarter-car model.............................................17
Table 3. Half-car model parameters........................................................................28
Table 4. Controller parameters for half-car model..................................................28

iii
 ABSTRACT

Electric cars are emerging as a popular, convenient and environment-friendly mean

of transportation, when fossil fuels resources are approaching their limits and global
warming is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The emergence of electric car raises
many problems for researchers, who find methods to improve the performance and
comfort of this kind of vehicle. In this thesis, the aspect of ride comfort is concerned.
One of the important elements that has great impact on ride comfort is the suspension
system. From the control perspective, suspension system is categorized into three
types: Passive, semi-active and active. Among mentioned systems, active suspension
system receives the most interest and has the biggest room for improvement. The
scope of this thesis is non-linear active suspension system in quarter-, half- and full-car
models. Due to the non-linear nature of the system, a backstepping controller is
proposed as it is proved to be an effective control method for this class of objects. The
control quality of the proposed controller is verified by simulation in
MATLAB/Simulink. For future development, the mass of the vehicle body will be
considered as a uncertainty due to the change in the weight of the driver and
passengers. Also a certain type of actuator will be implemented to the model in order
to have a complete model for precise control.

iv
 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction to suspension systems

1.1.1 Overview
Suspension system transmits all the forces from the interactions between the
vehicle body to the road. Therefore, the system is the main element which determines
ride comfort, road holding, and ride safety. The quality of the ride is also significantly
influenced by the performance of the suspension system, as it does not only make
impact on the driver’s comfort but also prevent physical fatigue and reduce the rate of
fatality in traffic accidents [1][2]. A basic model of a car suspension system is
illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Suspension system illustration (thêm hình 1 suspension)

The suspension system reduces and eliminates the oscillations on the car body from
uneven road condition by the structure consisting of 3 parts:
− Spring parts: Include tires, tire air and springs. Support the entire
weight of the vehicle. Enable the wheel to oscillate, which brings the vehicle
into an appropriate oscillating frequency for the occupants and ensures the
comfort when travelling.
− Suspension links: Determine the properties of the wheel motion to the
car body by transmitting the forces and the torques from the wheel to the body.
− Shock absorbers (Dampers): Eliminate the oscillations of the wheels
and the body to ensure road holding, improve ride comfort and stabilize the car.

1
 Car suspension systems can be categorized into 3 types: Passive, semi-active and
active suspension systems. Passive suspension system consists of springs and dampers
positioned between the body of the vehicle and the wheel-axle assembly. Passive
suspensions are preferred when it comes to high reliability, simple mechanism and
implementation. However, they show weak performances in improving road comfort
and road holding under different road conditions and conflicting criteria. The reason
for this property is the invariant characteristics of the spring stiffness and the damping
coefficient [3][4].
Semi-active suspension systems provide variable springs and dampers, which
enables the spring stiffness and the damping coefficient to be adjusted within a certain
range. Due to there low energy consumption and high reliability, they are used in a
vast array of production vehicles [5][6]. However, the produced damping or spring
forces are restricted by passivity constraints, i.e., they can only react to the relative
motion of the damper and dissipate energy passively. Although they present a
considerable improvement in performance compared to passive systems, semi-active
systems have limited capability in improve ride comfort.
Different from the aforementioned two kinds of suspension systems, active
suspension systems require a power supply and can produce forces independent of the
relative suspension motion. Despite of their advantages, active suspension systems
have not been applied in any production vehicles, due to their energy requirements as
well as weight and packaging aspects. But there is no doubt that active suspensions
will be integrated in the trend of the future vehicle suspension design [7][8].
The success of an active suspension system is achieved through the design process
comprised of two stages. The first stage is to build a control-oriented dynamic model
of the vehicle active suspension. The second stage is to design a suitable control
strategy, which has a significant impact on ride comfort and ride safety.

1.1.2 Control-Oriented Active Suspension Models

An essential step in designing an active suspension system is vehicle dynamic
modelling. Generally speaking, the vehicle dynamic model of real vehicle is some
degree of approximation. According to the controller design requirement, there are
three dynamic models which are often used in theoretical analysis and control design

2
of suspension systems: 2-DOF quarter-car model, 4-DOF half-car model, 7-DOF full-
car model [9].

1.1.2.1 Quarter-car Model

If the motion of the four wheels can be decoupled and the suspension dynamics are
only considered in a frequency range of interest for the vertical vehile dynamics (0-
25Hz), the quarter-car model offers an appropriate platform which is extensively used
in literature and captures many important aspects of the more complicated models. It
consists of the dynamic behaviour of the unsprung mass (representing the mass of a
tire, the wheel, the brake, the wheel carrier and parts of the suspension system) and the
srpung mass (mainly determined by a quarter of the chassis mass, including passengers
and vehicle payload), connected by the suspension system. The tire in this model can
be assumed to be a parallel spring and damper configuration. Figure 2 illustrates a
quarter-car model with relative displacement.

Figure 2. Quarter-car active suspension model

The following dynamic model is commonly used:

101\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

3
 where is the quarter-car body mass; u is the unsprung mass (tire, wheel,

brake calliper, suspension links, etc.), are the displacements of the sprung and

unsprung masses, respectively, is the road displacement input. and

are the stiffness of the spring and the tire, respectively; and are the

damping coefficients of the sprung absorber and the tire, respectively. is the actuator
input force.
In 01, the damper force and spring force are considered linear, which implies that
the quarter-car dynamic model behaves as a linear system. The linear model facilitates
performance analysis, controllability and so on. However, the actual damping

coefficient is different during the extension and compression movements, and the

spring stiffness coefficient is also non-linear in nature. Non-linear model and control
strategy will be discussed later in the following chapters.

1.1.2.2 Half-car Model

Figure 3. Half-car Model

If the left and right half of the car are considered symmetrical, the suspension
system can be simplified as a half-car model. This model can reflect the dynamic
behaviour of the system in both vertical and pitch motions. As shown in Figure 3,

4
and are the mass of the vehicle body and the moment of inertia for the ptich motion,

respectively; stand for the front and rear unsprung masses, respectively.

denote the forces produced by the front and rear springs and dampers,

respectively; and are the elasticity and damping forces of the front and

rear tires. and are friction forces of suspension components. is the vertical

displacement, is the pitch angle, are the displacements of the unpsrung masses

and are the road inputs to the corresponding wheel. are the distances of the

suspensions to the center of gravity of the vehicle body, and are the control

inputs of the active suspension system.

Set of ideal dynamic equations for the half-car model is given by:

202\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)
The forces generated by the springs and dampers can be modeled as both linear and
non-linear form.

5
1.1.2.3 Full-car Model

Figure 4. Full-car Model

Full-car model has 7-DOF: heave, pitch and roll motoins of the sprung mass and
the vertical motion of the unsprung masses, as illustrated in Figure 4. It consists of a
single sprung mass (vehicle body) connected to four unsprung masses (front-right,
front-left, rear-right and rear-left wheels) at each corner. The sprung mass is free to
conduct heave, pitch and roll motions, while the unsprung masses are free to bounce
vertically with respect to the sprung mass. The suspension between the sprung mass
and the unsprung masses are modeled as dampers and non-linear spring elements,
while the tires are considered as linear springs without damping element. The non-
linear spring model, with a stiffening character, and the piece-wise linear damper
model, which has different damping rates for compression and extension movements,

as depicted in Figure 5. In Figure 4, stand for the mass of the vehicle body,

moment of inertia for the roll and pitch motions, respectively. are the

unsprung masses of front left, front right, rear left, and rear right, respectively. and

are the forces produced by the spring and damper, respectively, and is the

stiffness coefficient of the tire. For the vehicle body, , and represent the heave,

pitch and roll motions, respectively. is the unsprung mass displacement and is

the road input to the respective wheel. The actuators are placed parallel to the

6
suspension springs and dampers, and their output forces are denoted by .

represent the the distances of the suspension to the center of mass of the vehicle body.
is the velocity of the vehicle in x-direction.

Figure 5. (a) Non-linear spring and (b) piece-wise linear damper models.
The dynamic equations of the full-car model are obtained as follows, based on an
assumption that the pitch and roll angles are small.

303\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where and are the stiffness of the

linear term and is the stiffness coefficient of the cubic term. Here, is the

damping coefficient for the extension movement, is the damping coefficient for the

7
compression movement. , stand for the suspension deflections, which are

defined as:

404\* MERGEFORMAT

(.)

505\* MERGEFORMAT

(.)

606\* MERGEFORMAT

(.)

707\* MERGEFORMAT

(.)

1.1.3 Road Excitation Model

The most relevant for ride studies are ground input disturbances caused by road
roughness. There are many possible ways to analytically describe the road inputs,
which can be classified as shock or vibration. Shocks are discrete events of relatively
short duration and high intensity such as a pronounced bump or pothole on an
otherwise smooth road. Vibrations are distinguished by prolonged and consistent
excitation or commonly called as rough roads. Obviously, a well-designed suspension
must perform adequately in a wide range of shock and vibration environments. A

simple model of the vertical road displacement resulting from a singular

disturbance event is given by

808\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

8
 where A represents the bump height, L is the bump length, and v is the velocity of
the passing vehicle.

1.1.4 Control Objectives of Active Suspension Systems

The important function of the vehicle suspension system is to connect the vehicle
body with the wheels, which make carrying the body along the drive away and
transmitting forces in the horizontal plane possible. Therefore, the wheel follows a
route with unenven road route to a certain extent. By using spring and damping
elements, the resulting body movements are limited and ride safety and comfort are
ensured.
Furthermore, the vehicle suspension system has major impact on the position of the
wheel relative to the road by its geometry and the spring and damping rate. This allows
a systematic influence on the dynamic driving characteristics of the vehicle. The
adjustment of these characteristics takes up a compromise, because the requirements of
a good driving behavior and a high comfort are at odds with one another. Therefore, in
designing the control law for a suspension system, usually we need to take the
following aspects into consideration [10-12]:
− Ride comfort: It is a popular thinking that ride comfort is one of the
most important criteria for vehicle design, which is usually evaluated by the
acceleration acted on the vehicle occupants in the vertical, longitudinal and
lateral directions.
− Road holding ability: In order to ensure a firm uninterrupted contact of
wheels to road, the dynamic tire loads should not exceed the static ones [11].
− Maximum suspension deflection: Because of the constraint of
mechanical structure, the maximum allowable suspension strokes have to be
taken into consideration to prevent excessive suspension bottoming, which can
possibly result in deterioration of ride comfort and even structural damage.
− Saturation of the actuator: In view of the limited power of the actuator,
the control force for the suspension system should be confined to a certain
range.
− Reliability of closed-loop systems: The closed-loop systems should be
reliable when meeting with non-ideal situations caused by actuators, such as the

9
 problems of actuator input delay, sampled data, and fault accommodation for
unknown actuator failures.

1.2 The Concept of Lyapunov Function-based Backstepping Sliding Mode

Control
Typically, there may occur differences between the actual plant and the
mathematical model developed for the controller design. These mismatches may be
due to various factors. The engineer’s role is to ensure required performance levels
despite such mismatches. An approach to the robust control controller design is called
the sliding mode control (SMC) methodology.
SMC utilizes a high-speed switching control law to achieve two objectives. Firstly,
it drives the non-linear plant’s state trajectory onto a specified and user-chosen surface
in the state space which is called the sliding or switching surface. This surface is called
the switching surface because a control path has one gain if the state trajectory of the
plant is “above” the surface and a different gain if the trajectory drops “below” the
surface. Secondly, it maintains the plant’s state trajectory on this surface for all
subsequent times. During the process, the control system’s structure varies from one to
another and thereby earning the name variable structure control. The control is called
as the sliding mode control [13] to emphasize the importance of the sliding mode.
Under SMC, the system is designed to drive and then constrain the system state to lie
within a neighborhood of the switching function. Its two main advantages are the
dynamic behavior of the system may be tailored by the particular choice of switching
function, and the closed-loop response becomes totally insensitive to a particular class
of uncertainty. Also, the ability to specify performance directly makes sliding mode
control attractive from the design perspective. The most eminent feature of SMC is it
is completely insensitive to parametric uncertainty and external disturbances during
sliding mode [14].

10
 Figure 6. (a) Ideal trajectory and (b) Non-ideal trajectory of system in SMC
To enhance the performance of SMC, backstepping technique is implemented. The
basic idea of backstepping design is that a complex non-linear system is decomposed
into the subsystems, and the degree of each subsystem doesn’t exceed that of the
whole system. Accordingly, the Lyapunov function and virtual control signals are
designed respectively, and the whole system is obtained through “backstepping”. Thus
the control rule is designed thoroughly. The backstepping method is called as back-
deduce method, and the desired dynamic indexes are satisfied. The backstepping
method and the sliding mode control are integrated to designed a backstepping-sliding-
mode controller which realizes the robust control for uncertain systems. It combines
the immunity to uncertainties of backstepping technique and the robustness of sliding
mode control to external disturbances. Utilizing this property, many researchers have
implemented this control algorithm for a wide range of non-linear objects which
contain uncertainties in the model and are susceptible to disturbances [15-17]. The
non-linear nature of the active suspension system makes it highly suitable for applying
backstepping sliding mode approach to achieve great performance.
Suppose the plant is a non-linear system as below:

909\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)

11
 where are non-linear functions, is the sum of the

unmatched uncertainties and the disturbances, and .

The steps of the basic backstepping sliding mode control can be designed as
follows.
Let

10010\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

where is the desired trajectory. Therefore,

Select the Lyapunov function as

11011\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Taking the derivative of 011:

To obtain , let , i.e.

12012\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)
where is the sliding variable. It is obtained that

If , then .
Select a Lyapunov function as

13013\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Because , we obtain

12
 To have , a controller is designed as below

14014\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where . It is possible to point out that

Therefore, as .

Kết chương 1 (bố cục abc)

1511Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1

13
 CHAPTER 2. Backstepping Sliding Mode Controller for Active

Suspension System in Quarter-car Model

Active vehicle suspension system is highly non-linear and is represented by a large

number of equations. In this chapter, a quarter-car model will be analyzed in order to
mathematically model and design non-linear controller for this system. An overview of
the related problems when designing control will be discussed: Ride comfort, road
holding, suspension spaces and actuator saturation.

2.1 Mathematical Model and Related Problems

2.1.1 Mathematical Model

2-DOF non-linear active suspension system in a quarter-car model is investigated,

as in Figure 2 . 2-DOF are vertical motions of the sprung mass and the unsprung

mass . They are linked by a passive suspension with parallel spring-damper

configuration and an actuator to transform this system into an active one. Moreover,
unsprung mass contacts with the road surface through a tire, which is modeled as a
spring-damper. No disturbance and uncertainty is concerned in the model [9].

14
 Figure 7. Active suspension system in quarter-car model
Dynamic equations of the quarter-car model:

16116\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)

in which are sprung and unsprung mass, respectively. are the forces

from the spring and damper, respectively. are the forces from the spring and

damper of the tire. are vertical accelerations of the sprung and unsprung masses,

respectively. is the control input of the active suspension system. arre

defined as follows:

17117\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)

18118\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)

19119\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where are the stiffness coefficient of the linear terms and the cubic terms,

respectively; are the damping coefficient for the extension movement and the

compression movement, respectively; are the stiffness and damping coefficients

of the tires. No disturbance or uncertainty is concerned in this model.

Define state variables . 116 is rewritten as

15
 20120\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

2.1.2 Related Problems

2.1.2.1 Ride comfort

For active suspension system, the main focus is to design a controller which can
succeed in stabilizing the vertical motion of the car body and isolating the force
transmitted to the passengers as well. Basically, the task is to design a compensator to

eliminate vertical acceleration, which is .

2.1.2.2 Good road holding

Due to the disturbances caused by uneven road condition, a firm uninterrupted
contact between the tire and the road is an important preliminary for vehicle handling
and significantly contributé to ride safety. Therefore, the tire is enabled to transfer the
longitudinal and lateral forces to the vehicle, so that the brake inputs, steering and
throttle can be controlled by the driver. As a result, the dynamic tire load

has to be less than the static tire load and be

bounded by

21121\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

2.1.2.3 Suspension travel

For the sake of avoid damaging vehicle structure and generating more discomfort,
the active suspension controllers must be capable of preventing the suspension from
hitting its travel limits. In addition, when the suspension is subject to road-induced

16
vibrations, the standard deviation is considered for the analysis of the

suspension deflection. Therefore, it is necessary to make sure that the suspension

deflection should not exceed the allowable the maximum suspension deflection hard

limit , which can be described as

22122\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

2.1.2.4 Actuator saturation

Because of the limited power of the actuator, control input of the suspension is
bounded within a certain range

23123\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

2.2 Synthesis of BSMC for Quarter-car Model

Let

24124\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

25125\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

The first two equations of 120 is rewritten as

26126\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)
Define

27127\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

where is the desired trajectory. Taking the derivative of 127:

Select the Lyapunov function

17
 28128\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Hence,

To have , let and it leads to

29129\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where is the sliding variable. Therefore,

If , then . Choose a Lyapunov function

30130\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

We have , then

To obtain , select the control law as

31131\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where . Hence,

Then, as .

18
 In order to reduce chattering phenomenon, is replaced by with

Control law 131 becomes

32132\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

2.3 Simulation Results

To verify the effectiveness of the control algorithm, numerical simulations are
conducted in MATLAB/Simulink with parameters of model and controller given in
tables below. Control quality of BSMC is also compared with a fine-tuned PID
controller and a passive suspension system.

Table 1. Quarter-car model parameters

Parameter Symbol Value
Sprung mass 600 kg
Unsprung mass 60 kg
Linear spring stiffness 18000 N/m

Cubic spring stiffness 1000 N/m3

Extension damping coefficient 2500 Ns/m

Compression damping coefficient 2200 Ns/m
Tire stiffness 200000 N/m

Tire damping coefficient 1000 Ns/m

Maximum suspension travel 0.25 m

Bump height 0.1 m

19
Bump length 5m
Actuator saturation 5000 N
Table 2. Controller parameters for quarter-car model
Controller BSMC PID
Parameters
Value 5 5 1 10 1 10000
Simulation results in MATLAB/Simulink are presented from Figure 8 to Figure 12.
Road input disturbance is given by 08 in 1.1.3 and influences the system at the third
second of simulation.

Figure 8. Vertical displacement of sprung mass

Figure 9. Vertical acceleration of sprung mass

20
 Figure 10. Control input

Figure 11. Suspension travel

Figure 12. Ratio between dynamic tire load and static tire load
Generally, active suspension systems (BSMC and PID) bring better ride comfort
than passive suspension system does. Figure 8 and Figure 9 depict an excellent

21
performance of BSMC, as the sprung mass moves at remarkably small amplitude and
acceleration compared to PID controller and passive suspension system. BSMC
guarantees great ride comfort, good road holding and maintains ride safety at high
level. Compared to PID, BSMC produces a lower vertical displacement of sprung
mass and a smaller amplitude of vertical acceleration. Control input, suspension travel
and dynamic tire load in every control scheme are kept under their limits, as shown in
Figure 10, Figure 11 and Figure 12.

2.4 Conclusion
3312Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1In this chapter, ride comfort of vehicle’s
occupants is discussed and improved by using a BSMC for active suspension system
of quarter-car model. In general, passive suspension system is not able to provide
comfort to the passengers under uneven road condition. Comfort level when driving of
people travelling in the vehicle is significantly improved by reducing vertical
acceleration of the sprung mass. Simultaneously, hard constraints of the system are
fully satisfied: Actuator saturation, road holding based on dynamic and static tire loads
and maximum suspension travel. A comparison among active suspension systems
using BSMC, conventional PID, and passive suspension system is conducted.
Numerical simulations are performed and show that active suspension with BSMC
brings superior comfort, and satisfies all requirements of the system.

22
 CHAPTER 3. Backstepping Sliding Mode Controller for Active

Suspension System in Half-car Model

If the left and right side of the car are symmetrical, the suspension model can be
simplified as a half-car model. Compared to the quarter-car model, half-car suspension
systems can reflect both vertical and pitch motions. This property makes half-car
model appropriate for testing new control algorithm. This chapter will analyze the
half-car model and design a BSMC for this model.

3.1 Mathematical Model and Problem Statement

3.1.1 Mathematical Model

Figure 13. Half-car Suspension Model

The tire is modeled as a combination of spring and damper. Using Newton’s second
law, the ideal dynamic equations of motion for this system can be derived as follows
[9]:

23
 34234\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

in which

The forces produced by the non-linear stiffening spring, the piece-wise linear
damper and the tires:

35235\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

and stand for the front and rear suspension spaces:

36236\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

37237\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

38238\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

39239\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

Let .

The state-space form of the dynamic equations:

24
 40240\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

3.1.2 Problem Statement

− Ride comfort: Succeed in stabilizing the vertical and pitch motion of the
car body and isolating the force transmitted to the passengers.
− Good road holding: The dynamic tire load should not exceed the static
ones for both of the front and rear wheels:

41241\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

with satisfiy:
− Suspension space limits: Because of mechanical structure, the
suspension spaces should not exceed the allowable maximums:

42242\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)
− Actuator saturation: All actuators of physical devices are subject to
amplitude saturation:

43243\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

25
3.2 Synthesis of BSMC for Half-car Model

3.2.1 Synthesis of control law

To stablize the vehicle when it encounters a bump on the road, To stablize the

vehicle when it encounters a bump on the road, as . The system

can be controlled by exerting control forces on the actuators of the suspension

system. By determining the control signals for the heave motion and for pitch

motion of the system, the real control inputs can be calculated. First, control

signal is designed so that tracking error converges to 0. Dynamic equations for heave

motion:

44244\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

with .

First of all, let

45245\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

where is the desired trajectory. Therefore,

Select Lyapunov function as

46246\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Taking the derivative of 246

26
 In order to obtain , let , i.e.

47247\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

It is easy to point out that if , . Next, select a Lyapunov candidate

function

48248\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Because , we have

To make , a control law is chosen as below

49249\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

where .

Hence,

As a result, as .

Integrating both sides of inequality from 0 to

50250\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

27
which leads to

51251\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

This implies

52252\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

To reduce the effect of chattering phenomenon, is replaced by .

Control law 249 becomes

53253\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

Similarly, the control signal for pitch motion of the system is designed as:

54254\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

with , where are positive coefficients.

Furthermore, we have

55255\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

After obtaining and , we can calculate real control inputs as

56256\* MERGEFORMAT

(.)

28
3.2.2 Zero dynamics
The backstepping sliding mode controller yields to a 4th order error dynamic, while
the original system is 8th order. Therefore, the zero dynamics consists of 4 states. Let

, we have

57257\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Then, solve based on the definitions of and replace ones in .

Then the following linearized zero dynamics is obtained:

58258\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

where

Define a positive function , with is a positive matrix. Take the

derivative of V:

29
 It is worth noting that matrix A has eigenvalues with negative real parts. Hence,

, where is a positive matrix. It is easy to point out that

where are tuning positive values. The following inequality is obtained:

We can properly choose matrices and tuning values so that there exists

a positive value such

59259\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

where with
259 suggests that the Lyapunov function is bounded by

60260\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)

Which means with

30
3.2.3 Performance Constraints
We know that all signals are bounded within known ranges, and the bounds of
dynamic tire loads can be estimated as

Furthermore, the bounds of suspension spaces can be calculated as

61261\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

62262\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)
If we choose properly the initial values and tuning parameters, then these below
can always be obtained:

63263\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

Similarly, bounds of can be estimated in the form of

64264\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

65265\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

which leads to the upper bounds of with

31
 If the initial values and tuning gains are properly adjusted, then the

saturation conditions are satisfied:

66266\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

3.3 Simulation Results

In this paper, a special polynomial is designed as a reference trajectory. Because of
the existence of the reference trajectory, the controller can lower the vertical and
pitching acceleration of the body in a predetermined time and improve travelling
comfort:

67267\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

where , coefficient vectors , , are determined such

that

Road input disturbance is given by 08 in 1.1.3 and influences the system at the

third second of simulation. Initial conditions are given as

Table 3. Half-car model parameters

Parameter Symbol Value
Vehicle body mass 1200 kg
Moment of inertia 600 kgm2

32
Unsprung mass 100 kg

Linear spring stiffness 15000 N/m

Cubic spring stiffness 1000 N/m3

Front tire stiffness 200000 N/m

Rear tire stiffness 150000 N/m

Extension damping coefficient 1500 Ns/m
Compression damping coefficient 1200 Ns/m
Front tire damping coefficient 1500 Ns/m

Rear tire damping coefficient 2000 Ns/m

Distance between front suspension 1.2 m
and center of gravity of the vehicle
Distance between rear suspension 1.5 m
and center of gravity of the vehicle
Vehicle speed V 20 m/s
Maximum suspension travel 0.15 m

Actuator saturation 5000 N

Front static tire load 7513.3 N

Rear static tire load 6206.7 N

Table 4. Controller parameters for half-car model

Parameter
Value 10 10 10 10 1 1

33
 Figure 14. Vertical displacement in different control schemes

Figure 15. Vertical displacement in different reference time of BSMC

In Figure 14, BSMC presents a superior control quality compared to passive
system and with PID, with significantly shorter transient time and lower displacement
amplitude. Performance of BSMC is similar although the reference time has changed
as in Figure 15.

34
 Figure 16. Pitch angle in different control schemes

Figure 17. Pitch angle with different reference time of BSMC

For pitch angle, active suspension system with BSMC offers a motion which is low
in amplitude and considerably short in transient time, while active suspension system
with PID controller and passive system give a longer transient time as in Figure 16. In
Figure 17, BSMCs with a reference time has softer pitch motion than the one does not.

35
 Figure 18. Vertical acceleration in different control scheme

Figure 19. Vertical acceleration with different reference time of BSMC

Once again, BSMC exhibits great control quallity in terms of vertical acceleration.
Figure 18 clearly shows that the acceleration in the case of active suspension system
with BSMC is far lower than those of active system with PID and passive system. A
reference trajectory plays an important role in reducing the acceleration when initial
condition is set up, although the acceleration rises a bit when the vehicle encounters
the bump, as depicted in Figure 19.

36
 Figure 20. Pitch acceleration in different control schemes

Figure 21. Pitch acceleration with different reference time of BSMC

Nhận xét

3.4 Conclusion
In this chapter, half-car model is controlled by a BSMC. The simulation results
depicts great control quality, as it is illustrated by numerical simulation and
comparison to other control strategies. Short transient time and low displacement
amplitude are important advantages of using BSMC for half-car model. In the next
chapter, BSMC is applied to 7-DOF full-car model.
6813Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1

37
 CHAPTER 4. Backstepping Sliding Mode Controller for Active

Suspension System in Full-car Model

4.1 Mathematical Model

In this chapter, a full-car model with 7-DOF, which are heave, pitch, roll motions
and free bounce motions of four unsprung masses (front-right, front-left, rear-right and
rear-left wheels) at each corner, is discussed. The tire is modeled as a simple linear
spring.

Figure 22. Full-car suspension system model

The non-linear equations of motion for the full vehicle model are obtained using
the Lagrange equations and are given as follows, based on an assumption that the pitch
and roll angles are small [9]:

38
 69369\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)
where

70370\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

71371\* MERGEFORMAT

(.)

72372\* MERGEFORMAT

(.)

73373\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

74374\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

75375\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

76376\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

77377\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

39
 78378\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

Here, are the stiffness of the linear term and is the stiffness coefficient of the

cubic term of the non-linear spring. Here, is the damping coefficient for the

extension movement, is the damping coefficient for the compression movement of

the piece-wise linear damper. Define state variables

The state-space form of the full-car model is obtained

40
 79379\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)

4.2 Synthesis of BSMC for Full-car model

For a full-car model, BSMC strategy will be implemented to tackle the problems in
operating an active suspension system with certain hard constraints. Firstly, a BSMC
for the heave motion is designed.
The dynamic equation for heave motion:

80380\* MERGEFORMAT
(.)
where

41
 81381\*
MERGEFORMAT (.)
Let

82382\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

where is the desired trajectory. Hence,

Select a Lyapunov function as

83383\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Taking the derivative of 383

In order to obtain , let , i.e.

84384\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)
where is the sliding variable. Therefore

It is obvious that if , . The next step is required.

Select a Lyapunov function as

85385\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

We have . It leads to

42
 To have , choose control law

86386\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where . As a result

Therefore, as .

In order to reduce chattering phenomenon, is replaced by with

Control law 386 becomes

87387\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)
Similar to the synthesis of BSMC for heave motion, BSMCs for roll and pitch
motion are obtained:
− For pitch motion:

88388\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where and

43
 89389\
* MERGEFORMAT (.)
− For roll motion:

90390\*

MERGEFORMAT (.)

where and

91391\

* MERGEFORMAT (.)

4.3 Simulation Results

In this section, the effectiveness of the BSMC is demonstrated by introducing
different road input to the system. All parameters are taken from data of a 2017 C-
Class hatchback model from CarSim. Reference trajectories for heave, pitch and roll
motions have similar formula to 267.
Table 5. Parameters for full-car model
Parameter Symbol Value
Vehicle body mass 1270 kg
Moment of inertia for pitch motion 1536.7 kgm2

Moment of inertia for roll motion 536.6 kgm2

Unsprung mass 71 kg

44
Distance from the suspensions to
the center of gravity of the vehicle

Linear spring stiffness of front 27000 N/m

suspensions
Linear spring stiffness of rear 30000 N/m
suspensions
Cubic spring stiffness of front 150000 N/m3
suspensions
Cubic spring stiffness of rear 170000 N/m3
suspensions
Tire stiffness 250000 N/m
Extension damping coefficient 2178 Ns/m
Compression damping coefficient 3402 Ns/m

Parameter
Value

45
46
47
 RMSVA
PSS
BSMC

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49