Experimental Validation of Truck Cab Suspension Model and Ride Comfort Improvement under Various Semi-Active Control Strategies

The semi-active cab suspension system for trucks is gaining increasing importance due to its economic advantages, low energy consumption, and significant enhancement of ride comfort. This paper investigates the effects of three control methods on improving ride comfort of semi-active cab suspension systems under random and bump road conditions: Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control, fuzzy PID control, and Model Predictive Control (MPC). Initially, an accurate multi-degree-of-freedom truck cab suspension model was developed and validated through actual road tests. Based on this model, three control strategies were designed and implemented. Finally, the effectiveness of each control strategy was evaluated under various road conditions, including random and bump road scenarios. The results indicate that these control strategies can effectively reduce vibrations and impacts, significantly improving ride comfort. This improvement is crucial for alleviating driver fatigue and enhancing driving safety. Among them, the MPC control showed superior performance, reducing vibrations by at least 31% under both random and bump road conditions, outperforming PID and Fuzzy PID in terms of effectiveness and robustness.