Semi-active Suspension System Design for Quarter-car Model using Model Reference Sliding Mode Control

This paper investigates the control of a semi-active suspension system using a quarter-car model, and proposes a model reference sliding mode controller which is easy to be carried out and eliminates the necessity of a road signal as well as measuring damper force. The proposed controller utilizes an approximate ideal skyhook system as a reference model, and the control law is determined so that an asymptotically stable sliding mode will occur in the error dynamics between the plant and the reference model states. In order to improve the dynamic quality of sliding mode motion, a uniform reaching law is used. Numerical simulation results suggest that the proposed controller can achieve a high degree of robustness against model uncertainties and disturbances. It obtains much better ride quality than that of passive and practical skyhook case, and achieves better handling performance over other controllers.