Active and Semiactive Suspension Systems for Minimizing Tire Wear in Articulated Vehicles

Electric and hybrid propulsion systems for articulated vehicles have been gaining increased attention, with the aim to decrease exhaust particle emissions. However, the more environmentally-friendly electric or hybrid articulated vehicles are expected to have increased nonexhaust pollution-related sources because of their significantly increased mass compared with conventional vehicles. One of the main sources of nonexhaust pollution is tire wear, which could potentially cancel the benefits of removing the exhaust through electrification. Tire wear is mainly affected by internal (tire structure and shape) and external (suspension configuration, speed, road surface, etc.) factors. This work focuses on suspension systems and, more specifically, on the ability of active and semiactive suspensions to decrease tire wear in an articulated vehicle. In this direction, an articulated vehicle model that incorporates the tread in its modeling is built to study tire wear during cornering over a class C road. A novel active suspension design based on the H approach is suggested in this work and is compared with passive, semiactive, and other active suspension systems. The suspension systems are also compared mainly with regard to tire wear levels but also with other vehicle performance aspects (i.e., comfort and road holding). The Hop active suspension design is the most effective in decreasing tire wear, with decreases of about 8% to 11%, but without neglecting the rest of the objectives.