Investigation of the applicability of the dynamic-Q optimisation algorithm to vehicle suspension design

To optimise the handling of a vehicle in conjunction with ride comfort is a challenge due to the fact that the suspension features determining these functions tend to oppose one another. The complexity and nonlinearity of the dynamics of suspension systems impose further difficulty. Furthermore, the suspension characteristics imply a large number of variables. The dynamic-Q optimisation method used here in conjunction with the dynamics simulation code DADS is a robust and reliable algorithm particularly suitable for solving engineering optimisation problems. It applies an existing dynamic trajectory optimisation algorithm to successive spherical quadratic approximate subproblems and can be used when analytical functions are not available and only discrete function values can be obtained via numerical simulation of engineering processes. The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether the dynamic-Q method is suitable for optimising the design of a vehicle suspension system modelled in DADS. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.