Design of active fractional PID controller based on whale's optimization algorithm for stabilizing a quarter vehicle suspension system

Improving the dynamic performance of an automobile suspension system is considered as the main demand for comfortable and safe passenger travelling. From all previously proposed and implemented works, it is noticed that there are other factors that need to be considered to raising the car holding and stability in the road for improved passenger comfort when travelling. The minimization of car body displacement and oscillation time after exposure to road disturbances have been adopted in this work due to their contribution in raising the car holding and stability. The improvement in these features was maintained via a robust control methodology. The Fractional Order PID controller tuned by the Whales Optimization Algorithm (WOA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is suggested in this work as a robust controller to reduce the effect of these demerits. In this paper, an active quarter car suspension nonlinear system is designed for the presented goals using a robust controller. Minimizing the displacement of the car body and reducing the damping frequency are achieved via a nonlinear control strategy using the fractional order PID controller, which can maintain the required characteristics. Tuning the parameters of the FOPID controller is performed by using the Whales Optimization Algorithm (WOA). Robustness of the FOPID controller is examined and proved to withstand a system parameter variation of ±12 % in all system parameters and a maximum of ±80 % in controller parameter variation. Simulation outcomes also indicate a considerably improved performance of the active suspension system with the fractional order PID controller over the traditional PID. © 2020 Budapest University of Technology and Economics. All rights reserved.