Design and verification of a full-sized emulation laboratory for vehicle dynamic ride control suspension tuning

An emulation laboratory is designed and integrated into a four post shaker facility. The emulation laboratory is capable of fully characterizing vehicle suspension metrics.; A dynamic simulation of a quarter car model, based upon well established differential equations, is developed. The quarter car model is driven from a set of road displacement profiles and the quarter car responses are produced. The model behavior is then compared to the behavior of a full size vehicle ride control suspension in the emulation laboratory. The emulation laboratory is capable of testing small, full-sized, and sport utility passenger vehicles of all types.; Results are produced and compared using three distinct and independent sources: (1) Quarter car simulation model; (2) Actual vehicle performance over controlled road surfaces; (3) Emulation laboratory using a full sized stationary vehicle on a four post shaker facility.