Vehicle suspension tuning for bridge-friendliness and influence on coupled vehicle-bridge system frequency: Fid-Bau Portal

Vehicle suspension tuning for bridge-friendliness and influence on coupled vehicle-bridge system frequency

Jin, Shibo / Tan, Chin An / Lu, Huancai

Abstract A novel study on the mitigation of bridge response via tuning of vehicle suspension parameters is presented. The coupled vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) system consists of a quarter car model with a semi-active skyhook suspension. Transmissibility functions of the time-varying VBI system are derived and an extended fixed points principle is applied to obtain optimally tuned values of the vehicle suspension parameters for bridge-friendliness. Performances of both the optimally tuned passive and semi-active suspensions are assessed in terms of the dynamic responses, energetics and interacting force of the VBI system, and are shown to achieve excellent bridge-friendliness. Effects of vehicle suspension parameters on the temporal variation of the coupled bridge frequency are also studied. It is found that the bridge frequency depends strongly on two key physical parameters: vehicle-bridge frequency ratio and vehicle damping ratio. Moreover, variations of the bridge frequency during the vehicle passage are small when the tuned suspensions are used. This new finding may have critical implications in future research in bridge frequency identification using a moving vehicle.

Highlights • A novel study of a VBI system with vehicle skyhook suspension for bridge-friendliness. • Apply an extended fixed points principle to obtain optimal vehicle suspension parameters. • Effective mitigation of the coupled bridge response and energetics using the tuned suspension systems. • Investigate the effects of vehicle suspension parameters on coupled bridge frequency. • Temporal variation of the bridge frequency is small for VBI systems with tuned suspensions.