Automotive Science and Engineering

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In this paper, the enhancement of vehicle stability and handling is investigated by control of the active geometry suspension system (AGS). This system could be changed through control of suspension mounting point’s position in the perpendicular direction to wishbone therefore the dynamic is alternative and characteristics need to change. For this purpose, suitable controller needs to change mounting point’s position in limit area. Adaptive fuzzy control able to adjust stability and handling characteristics in all conditions. Also, simple controller such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) versus adaptive fuzzy have been used that submit intelligent controllers. The three of freedom model (3DOF) in vehicle handling is validated with MATLAB and CarSim software. The results show that the steady state response of the adaptive fuzzy controller has been closed to desired yaw and roll angle has been enhanced about %20. In cases of lateral velocity and side slip angle have the same condition that it shows the stability has been improved. The control effort of PID needs to change very high that this response is not good physically, while control effort in adaptive fuzzy is less than 50 mm.

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Nowadays, due to increasing the complexity of IC engines, calibration task becomes more severe and the need to use surrogate models for investigating of the engine behavior arises. Accordingly, many black box modeling approaches have been used in this context among which network based models are of the most powerful approaches thanks to their flexible structures. In this paper four network based modeling methods are used and compared to model the behavior of an IC engine: neural networks model (NN), group method of data handling model (GMDH), a hybrid NN and GMDH model (NN-GMDH), and a GMDH model whose structure is determined by genetic algorithm (Genetic-GMDH). The inputs are engine speed, throttle angle, and intake valve opening and closing timing, and the output is the engine brake torque. Results show that NN has the best prediction capability and Genetic-GMDH model has the most flexible and simplest structure and relatively good prediction ability.

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In this paper, the optimization of the suspension system’s parameters is performed using a combined Taguchi and TOPSIS method, in order to improve the car handling and ride comfort. The car handling and ride comfort are two contradictory dynamic indices; therefore, to improve both car handling and ride comfort, there is a need for compromising between these two indices. For this purpose, the criteria affecting these two are first identified. The lateral acceleration and the body roll angle were used to evaluate the handling, and the RMS of vertical acceleration of the vehicle body was used to evaluate the ride comfort. The design factors including stiffness of springs and damping coefficient of dampers in the front and rear suspension system were also taken into account. On this basis, the results obtained from the vehicle’s motion in the DLC test were evaluated in the CarSim software. Then, the ideal tests were identified using the combined entropy and TOPSIS technique; this method has been proposed for managing the handling and ride comfort criteria. Finally, the optimal level of the suspension system’s factors was extracted using Taguchi method. It is evident from the results that, for different speeds, the body roll angle was improved up to 6.5%, and the RMS of the vertical acceleration of the vehicle body was optimized up to 4% to 7%.