Road preview MPC of semi‐active suspension with magneto‐rheological damper

Abstract In this article, a road preview model predictive control scheme for semi‐active suspension system with magneto‐rheological damper (MRD) is suggested. In order to improve the comprehensive performance of the semi‐active suspension, studies of both the actuator and control algorithm have been carried out. For the actuator, e.t. MRD, a cascade control strategy is proposed based on a Hammerstein model, compared with the traditional open‐loop control methods, the tracking accuracy of the damping force has been improved. For the control algorithm, in contrast to existing works which define all requirements in a single cost functional and minimize it, in this work a road preview model predictive controller is adopted for semi‐active suspension to provide optimal ride comfort by keeping constrained variables within specified limits. The road excitation is a measurable external input rather than an unknown disturbance. Finally, the optimization issue with hard constrains is converted into a quadratic programming problem. Simulation results show that the desired damping force of the MRD is realized by using the cascade control strategy. Meanwhile, vehicles with the proposed road preview model predictive control scheme can achieve better performance compared with a /generalized controller.