Non-intrusive determination of shock absorber characteristic curves by means of evolutionary algorithms. (1st January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carabias, E.; Cabrera, J.A.; Castillo, J.J.; Pérez, J.; Alcázar, M.
• Is Part Of: Mechanical systems and signal processing. Volume 182(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-01-01
• Subjects: Suspension fault detection -- Damper characteristic curve -- Tyre model -- Evolutionary algorithms; Structural dynamics -- Periodicals; Vibration -- Periodicals; Constructions -- Dynamique -- Périodiques; Vibration -- Périodiques; Structural dynamics; Vibration; Periodicals; 621
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ymssp.2022.109583
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0888-3270

Abstract

Highlights: A method to determine the curves of a damper without dismounting it from the vehicle. The tyre model is very important to model the behavior of the damper. An evolutionary algorithm is used to determine the characteristic curve of damper. Experimental tests show proposed method is able to obtain the behavior of dampers. Abstract: The fault detection in the components of the suspension system of road vehicles is of great importance. The optimal performance of the suspension system has a big influence on the safety and stability of a vehicle. Vehicle inspection services make use of different methods of fault diagnosis of shock absorbers without the need to remove them from the vehicle. These methods generally provide an average value of the damping coefficient or a value related to the efficiency of the damper. Next, acceptance or rejection criteria are used to evaluate the condition of the damper. Consequently, there is currently no objective criterion for detecting the malfunctioning or faulty condition of shock absorbers. In this work, a novel methodology capable of obtaining the complete force–velocity characteristic curve of the shock absorber is proposed. For this purpose, the importance of using an appropriate tyre model to obtain the suspension parameters is first studied. In addition, the displacements of the sprung and unsprung masses and the excitation of the system are obtained experimentally. Next, the points that model the complete characteristic curve of a shock absorber are obtained by means of an optimization method based on evolutionary algorithms. Real tests have been conducted on a complete vehicle suspension test bench to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.