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The problem considered in this paper is the design and analysis of the optimal control strategy for comfort-oriented semi-active suspensions in road vehicles. The goal of this work is to study and analyze the best control algorithm, and to use it as a benchmark. It is shown that the best control algorithm is an on-off switching strategy, which is designed using the principles of optimal and predictive control, under the assumption that the road disturbance can be predicted over a short time-horizon. Even though this optimal control strategy can be computationally intensive in a real-time application, it sets a lower bound on the best possible attenuation performance achievable by semi-active damping control.

In the last few years, extended research has been performed by car manufacturers in order to improve the handling, safety and comfort of ground vehicles. As a results, modern cars are equipped with many electronic automatic control devices. Among them the yaw-control system is probably the most critical and challenging. Road vehicles are complex non-linear dynamic systems, and the control of some of their motions needs the development of adequate full-vehicle models. In this paper a complete dynamic model of a road vehicle is derived and discussed, which can be suitably used to develop the new concept of “performance-oriented” yaw-control system.