Real coded GA for tuning of semi-active railway vehicle suspension system

Abstract

To maintain a high level of comfort expected by passengers from transportation vehicle while maintaining a high safety standards railway vehicle suspension system contribute the most significant impact. The main requirement of a vehicle suspension is that, it should be able to minimize the vertical displacement and the acceleration of the body in order to improve passenger comfort. A viable alternative to maintain the level of comfort is to use a semi-active suspension system with magneto-rheological (MR) damper which will reduce the inherent tradeoff between the ride comfort and road holding characteristic of the vehicle. Since the behavior of semi-active devices is often highly nonlinear, one of the main challenges in the application of this technology is the development of appropriate control system. In this thesis, the development of a semi-active suspension control of half car model of railway vehicle using stability augmentation control system is studied. A mathematical modelling and computer simulation model of secondary half car semi-active suspension controller algorithm have been developed within Matlab-SIMULINK. The tuning of this controller was developed by using Genetic Algorithm (GA).