Spectral simulation and shock absorber identification

In vehicle dynamics shock absorbers are used for the optimization of driving comfort and driving safety. Therefore, it is necessary to identify characteristics of shock absorbers under real conditions. This paper introduces the use of hardware-in-the-loop simulations for the identification of shock absorbers involving stochastic models of the road roughness. For this purpose a dynamic hydraulic test stand is used replacing the classical mechanical test stands which allow only sinusoidal excitation. For the Monte Carlo simulation with a real shock absorber in the loop, the random excitation of ground roughness is generated using a modified spectral representation method based on the famous contributions of Shinozuka. Motion and force of the shock absorber are measured and fed back to the Monte Carlo simulation of a car model in real time. The characteristic of the shock absorber is identified using the classical least squares method and a correlation-based method. A piecewise linear model for the characteristic relating the damping force and the velocity of the piston is applied for the shock absorber identification.