Optimal Seat and Suspension Design for a Half-Car with Driver Model Using Genetic Algorithm

This paper presents an optimal vehicle and seat suspension design for a half-car vehicle model to reduce human-body vibration (whole-body vibration). A genetic algorithm is applied to search for the optimal parameters of the seat and vehicle suspension. The desired objective is proposed as the minimization of a multi-objective function formed by the combination of seat suspension working space (seat suspension deflection), head acceleration, and seat mass acceleration to achieve the best comfort of the driver. With the aid of Matlab/Simulink software, a simulation model is achieved. In solving this problem, the genetic algorithms have consistently found near-optimal solutions within specified parameters ranges for several independent runs. For validation, the solution obtained by GA was compared to the ones of the passive suspensions through sinusoidal excitation of the seat suspension system for the currently used suspension systems.