ARTICLE IN PRESS

Mechanical Systems
and
Signal Processing
Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 20 (2006) 373–388
www.elsevier.com/locate/jnlabr/ymssp

Simulation and experimental validation of vehicle dynamic

characteristics for displacement-sensitive shock absorber
using fluid-flow modelling
Choon-Tae Leea, Byung-Young Moonb,
a
Department of Mechanical and Intelligent Systems Engineering, Busan National University, 30 Changjeon-dong,
Keumjeong-ku, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Busan National University, 30 Changjeon-dong,
Keumjeong-ku, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea
Received 23 February 2004; received in revised form 27 August 2004; accepted 27 September 2004
Available online 11 November 2004

Abstract

In this study, a new mathematical dynamic model of shock absorber is proposed to predict the dynamic
characteristics of an automotive system. The performance of shock absorber is directly related to the car
behaviours and performance, both for handling and ride comfort. Damping characteristics of automotive
can be analysed by considering the performance of displacement-sensitive shock absorber (DSSA) for the
ride comfort. The proposed model of the DSSA is considered as two modes of damping force (i.e. soft and
hard) according to the position of piston. For the simulation validation of vehicle-dynamic characteristics,
the DSSA is mathematically modelled by considering the fluid flow in chamber and valve in accordance
with the hard, transient and soft zone. And the vehicle dynamic characteristic of the DSSA is analysed
using quarter car model. To show the effectiveness of the proposed damper, the analysed results of damping
characteristics were compared with the experimental results, which showed similar behaviour with the
corresponding experimental one. The simulation results of frequency response are compared with the ones
of passive shock absorber. From the simulation results of the DSSA, it can be concluded that the ride
comfort of the DSSA increased at the low-amplitude road condition and the driving safety was increased
partially at the high-amplitude road condition. The results reported herein will provide a better

Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 51 510 1531.

E-mail address: moonby@pusan.ac.kr (B.-Y. Moon).

0888-3270/$ - see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ymssp.2004.09.006
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374 C.-T. Lee, B.-Y. Moon / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 20 (2006) 373–388

understanding of the shock absorber. Moreover, it is believed that those properties of the results can be
utilised in the dynamic design of the automotive system.
r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Shock absorber; Damping force; Quarter car model; Vehicle vibration; Ride comfort; Displacement
sensitive; Body valve

1. Introduction

Shock absorber is an important part of automotive which has an effect on ride characteristics
such as ride comfort and driving safety. There are several kinds of automotive shock dampers
such as position-sensitive damping, acceleration-sensitive damping, and continuous damping
control. Displacement-sensitive shock absorber (DSSA), which is also called stroke-dependent
shock absorber, and has a similar structure compared with conventional passive shock absorber.
Nevertheless, the DSSA has additional flow passages such as displacement-sensitive orifice at the
cylinder wall. The DSSA has two modes of damping force according to piston stroke.
When piston stroke is in the range of displacement-sensitive orifice, the leakage occurs through
this orifice. In this range, the damping force become low compared with the passive shock
absorber. On the other hand, when the piston stroke is out of range of displacement-sensitive
orifice, leakage through the orifice is blocked. In this range, the damping force becomes high
because of leakage block. Such a DSSA improves ride comfort on the paved road driving
conditions because of low damping force caused by small piston stroke. Also, the driving safety is
improved when the vehicle is driving on rough roads or bumper roads because of high damping
force caused by large piston stroke and high-vibration amplitude. Accordingly, the DSSA can
keep ride comfort and driving safety as well.
There have been several studies about shock absorber. At first, Lang [1] proposed simple
mathematical model of passive shock absorber. After that many studies have been carried out to
analyse the performance of shock absorber [2]. Cherng et al. [3] reported the effect of noise of
shock absorber using acoustic index method. Koenraad [4] proposed a mathematical model of the
mono-tube-type gas-charged shock absorber. Herr et al. [5] proposed a mathematical model of
twin tube-type shock absorber. Simms et al. [6] investigated the influence of damper properties on
luxury vehicle dynamic behaviour through the simulation and test. Liu et al. [7] reported the
characteristics of non-linear dynamic response for the twin-tube hydraulic shock absorber by
using a software programme. Nevertheless, there have been few studies carried out on the DSSA.
Recently, there has been a study reported on the DSSA [8]. In those studies [9], the transient
characteristics of displacement-sensitive orifice were not considered and the performance of the
vehicle with the DSSA was not verified. In general, those studies are insufficient to understand the
dynamic characteristics of DSSA completely to judge the handling and ride comfort of
automotive.
Therefore, in this study a new mathematical and simulation model of the DSSA is proposed
and analysed, which considered the transient range of displacement-sensitive orifice of the DSSA.
And the vehicle dynamic characteristics of the proposed model are evaluated in the time and
frequency domain using quarter car-simulation model. The results of the dynamic characteristics
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and the performance of the DSSA are compared with the passive shock absorber to prove the
effectiveness.

2. Method of analysis of shock absorber

2.1. Mathematical modelling of DSSA

Fig. 1 illustrates the configuration of a typical twin-tube-type passive shock absorber of an

automotive system. Basically the shock absorber consists of a piston, which moves up and down
along fluid-filled cylinder. The cylinder is fastened to the axle or wheel suspension, and the piston
is connected via the piston rod to the frame of the vehicle.
As the piston is forced to move with respect to the cylinder, a pressure differential is developed
across the piston causing the fluid to flow through orifices and valves in the piston. The portion of
the cylinder above the piston is known as the rebound chamber, and the portion of the cylinder
below the piston is known as the compression chamber, and the volume which surrounds the
cylinder is known as the reservoir chamber. The reservoir chamber is partially filled with fluid and
partially filled with a gas phase, normally air. The fluid flow between the compression and
reservoir chambers passes through the body valve assembly at the bottom of the compression
chamber. Fig. 2 shows the configurations of the piston valve assembly and the body valve
assembly and their part of the shock absorber. As can be observed in Fig. 2, the DSSA has an
additional flow passage in the cylinder wall of a typical passive shock absorber. And these
displacement-sensitive orifices can be divided into three zones such as the soft, transient and
hard zone. Here, the transient zone has tapered scheme to avoid abrupt changes of damping force.
Fig. 3 illustrates the analytic model of the DSSA, which describes a fluid-flow pattern according to
piston movement.
The fluid flows at the compression stroke can be divided into two flows such as Qr and Qc. The
first Qr is a flow which flows from the compression chamber to the rebound chamber through the

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of typical twin-tube-type passive shock absorber of an automotive system.
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376 C.-T. Lee, B.-Y. Moon / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 20 (2006) 373–388

Fig. 2. Typical configuration and fluid flow pattern of DSSA: (a) fluid flow pattern of DSSA at compression and
rebound stroke and (b) cross-section of A–A.

piston valve (1) and the other Qc is a flow which flows from the compression chamber to the
reservoir chamber through body valve (2), where the valve numbers are noted in Fig. 2(a). The
flow Qr, which flows through the piston valve, can be divided into three flows Qri, Qro and Qrd.
The flow Qri flows through the bleed valve (4). The flow Qro flows through intake valve (6) and the
flow Qrd flows through displacement-sensitive orifice (9) of piston valve, respectively. The flow Qc,
which flows through body valve (2) at the compression stroke, can be divided into two flows Qci
and Qcf. The flow Qci flows through the bleed valve and the flow Qcf flows through a blow-off
valve.
On the contrary, at the rebound stroke the fluid flows can be divided into two flows Q
r and Q
c :
The first Q
r is a flow which flows from the rebound chamber to the compression chamber through
piston valve (1) and the other one Q
c is a flow which flows from the reservoir chamber to the
compression chamber through body valve (2).
The flow Q
c ; which flows through body valve (2), can be divided into two flows Qci and Qco.
The flow Qci flows through the bleed valve and the flow Qco flows through suction valve (7). Also,
the flow Q
r ; which flows through piston valve (1), can be divided into three flows Qri, Qrf and Qrd.
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Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of fluid flow and pressure at compression and rebound stroke.

The flow Qri flows through bleed valve (4), the flow Qrf flows through blow off valve (5) and the
flow Qrd flows through the displacement-sensitive orifice, respectively.

2.2. Flow continuity equations at the compression and rebound chamber

The flow continuity equation of the compression chamber at the rebound stroke, as described in
Fig. 3, can be expressed as follows:
V c @Pc
  ¼ Ap x_ þ ðQ
r þ Q
c Þ: (1)
K @t
The flow continuity equation of the compression chamber at the compression stroke can be
expressed as follows:
V c @Pc
  ¼ Ap x_  ðQr þ Qc Þ; (2)
K @t
where K is a bulk modulus of elasticity of working fluid, Vc is a volume of compression chamber,
Pc is a pressure of compression chamber, Ap is an area of piston and x_ is a velocity of piston.
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Similar way, the flow continuity equation of the rebound chamber at the rebound stroke can be
expressed as follows:
V r @Pr
  ¼ ðAp  Arod Þx_  Q
r : (3)
K @t
The flow continuity equation of the rebound chamber at the compression stroke can be
expressed as follows:
V r @Pr
  ¼ ðAp  Arod Þx_ þ Qr ; (4)
K @t
where Vr is a volume of rebound chamber, Pr is a pressure of rebound chamber and Arod an area
of piston rod.

2.3. Flow equations at the compression stroke and rebound stroke

The flow rate of the piston valve Qr which flows between the rebound and compression
chambers at the compression stroke can be expressed as follows:
Qr ¼ Qri þ Qro þ Qrd : (5)
Here, each flow rates can be obtained as follows:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 2
Qri ¼ C d Apb ðPc  Pd1 Þ ¼ C d Ad1 ðPd1  Pr Þ; (6)
r r
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 ðPd2  Picr Þ
Qro ¼ C d Ad2 ðPc  Pd2 Þ ¼ Qim : (7)
r ðPim  Picr Þ
Here, when Pd2 oPicr ; Qro becomes zero.
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Qrd ¼ C d Ads ðxÞ ðPc  Pr Þ; (8)
r
8 h
< wfz2 ðx þ z1 Þ þ hg
> ðz1 oxpðz1 þ z2 ÞÞ;
Ads ðxÞ ¼ wh ðz1 oxpz1 Þ; (9)
>
: h
wfz2 ðx  z1 Þ þ hg ððz1 þ z2 Þoxp  z1 Þ;
where Cd is a coefficient of discharge and Apb is a bleed valve (4) orifice area of piston valve (1).
Ad1 and Ad2 are areas of piston valve (1) port restriction (3), Pd1 and Pd2 are pressures at piston
valve (1) port restriction (3), Qim is a maximum flow rate of the intake valve (6), Picr is a cracking
pressure of intake valve (6), Pim is a pressure of intake valve (6) at the maximum flow rate Qim and
Ads is an area of the displacement-sensitive orifice.
The flow rate Qrd becomes zero when the displacement of the piston detaches from
displacement-sensitive orifice, and the flow rate of the body valve Qc, which flows between the
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reservoir and compression chambers. At the compression, stroke can be expressed as follows:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Qc ¼ C d Aa3 ðPc  Pa3 Þ ¼ Qci þ Qcf : (10)
r
Each flow rates of Eq. (10) can be obtained as follows:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Qci ¼ C d Abb ðPa3  Pa Þ; (11)
r

ðPa3  Pbcr Þ
Qcf ¼ Qbm : (12)
ðPbm  Pbcr Þ
Here, when Pa3 oPbcr ; Qcf becomes zero. Abb is a bleed valve orifice area of body valve (2), Ad3 is a
port restriction area (8) of body valve (2), Pa3 is a pressure at the port restriction of body valve (2),
Pa is a pressure of reservoir chamber, Qbm is a maximum flow rate of the blow-off valve at the
body valve, Pbcr is a cracking pressure of the blow-off valve at the body valve and Pbm is a
pressure of the blow-off valve at the maximum flow rate at the body valve.
The flow rate of the piston valve Q
r ; which flows between rebound and compression chambers
at the rebound stroke can be expressed as follows:
Q
r ¼ Qri þ Qrf þ Qrd ; (13)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Qri ¼ C d Apb ðPd1  Pc Þ; (14)
r

ðPd1  Ppcr Þ
Qrf ¼ Qpm : (15)
ðPpm  Ppcr Þ
Here, when Pd1 oPpcr ; Qrf becomes zero.
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Qrd ¼ C d Ads ðxÞ ðPr  Pc Þ; (16)
r
where Qpm is a maximum flow rate of blow-off valve (5) at the piston valve, Ppcr is a cracking
pressure of the blow-off valve at the piston valve and Ppm is a pressure of the blow-off valve at the
maximum flow rate of the piston valve. Qrd becomes zero when the displacement of the piston
detaches from the displacement-sensitive zone. And the flow rate of body valve Qc*, which flows
between the reservoir and compression chambers at the rebound stroke can be expressed as
follows:
Q
c ¼ Qci þ Qco ; (17)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 2
Qci ¼ C d Abb ðPa  Pd3 Þ ¼ C d Ad3 ðPd3  Pc Þ; (18)
r r
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380 C.-T. Lee, B.-Y. Moon / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 20 (2006) 373–388

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 ðPd4  Pscr Þ
Qco ¼ C d Ad4 ðPa  Pd4 Þ ¼ Qsm : (19)
r ðPsm  Pscr Þ
Here, when Pd4 oPscr ; Qcf becomes zero, where Ad4 is a port restriction (8) area of the body
valve. Pd4 is a pressure at the body valve port restriction (8), Qsm is a maximum flow rate of
suction valve (7). Pscr is a cracking pressure of the suction valve and Psm a pressure at the
maximum flow rate of the suction valve.

2.4. Flow analysis at the reservoir chamber

Because the piston rod passes through the rebound chamber, and is connected to the rebound
side of the piston, the area of the rebound side is less than the area of the compression side of the
piston. Accordingly, as the piston moves, the combined volume of the compression and rebound
chambers changes by an amount equivalent to the inserted, or withdrawn piston rod volume. The
amount of fluid equivalent to the inserted, or withdrawn piston rod volume must be transferred
to, or from, the reservoir chamber which normally surrounds the cylinder. Air pressure of the
reservoir chamber can be expressed as an ideal gas equation as follows:
Pa V a ¼ ma RT; (20)
where Pa is an air pressure of the reservoir chamber, Va is an air volume of reservoir chamber, ma
is an air mass of reservoir chamber, R is a gas constant and T is the temperature of air in the
reservoir chamber.
Generally, the mass of air is assumed constant because the chamber is sealed, and the
temperature T of the reservoir chamber in assumed constant to simplify the analysis. Accordingly,
the air of the reservoir chamber can be expressed as an ideal gas equation as follows:
Pa V a ¼ const: (21)
The time variation of air volume Va of reservoir chamber can be expressed as follows:
Z
V a ðtÞ ¼ V a0  Qc dt; (22)

where Va0 is an initial air volume of the reservoir chamber. Therefore, the air pressure variation of
the reservoir chamber can be obtained from Eqs. (20) and (22) as follows:
ma RT
Pa ¼ R : (23)
V a0 Qc dt

2.5. Damping force of shock absorber

The damping force of shock absorber is determined by the forces acting on the both sides of the
piston. And the friction forces are another factor that determines damping force. Nevertheless, in
this study, the friction forces are ignored to simplify the analysis. Fig. 4 shows free body diagram
of the piston considering the damping force.
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Fig. 4. Free body diagram of the piston.

By considering the forces acting on the piston, the damping force can be obtained as follows:
F damping ¼ Pr Ar  Pc Ap  F friction ; (24)

Ar ¼ Ap  Arod ; (25)
where Fdamping is a damping force. Ffriction is the friction force, that is acting on piston rod.

3. Results of the dynamic analysis and discussion

Numerical calculation results of vehicle system are obtained under the road excitation.
Dynamic characteristics of the response are observed by the proposed method.

3.1. Analytical results of DSSA

As an analysis model, a shock absorber system, which is shown in Fig. 2, is considered. Fig. 5
shows simulation results of damping force versus stroke for the excitation velocity of 0.1, 0.3, 0.6
and 1.2 m/s, respectively. The damping force changes from soft mode to hard mode due to the
displacement-sensitive characteristics around the stroke of 720 mm, as shown in Fig. 5.
Especially, the damping force changes smoothly around the transient zone. It illustrates well the
function of transient zone which prevents abrupt changes of the damping force.
To verify the reliability of simulation results of the proposed method, experimental results of
shock absorber study are presented in Fig. 6 [8]. As can be observed in Fig. 6, the experimental
result shows very similar tendency with the result of this study.
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2400
transient zone soft zone transient zone
hard zone hard zone
2000
1.2 [m/sec]
1600

1200
damping force [N]

0.6 [m/sec]
800
0.3 [m/sec]
400
0.1 [m/sec]
0

-400

-800

-1200
-40 -20 0 20 40
stroke [mm]

Fig. 5. Analytical result of DSSA in stroke-damping force.

Fig. 6. Experimental result of DSSA in stroke-damping force.

3.2. Analysis results of the quarter car model

In this study, quarter car model adopted to analyse dynamic behaviour, including the DSSA in
the vehicle, as shown in Fig. 7. Here, a tire model is assumed to have both characteristics of spring
and damping. And a relative displacement of the shock absorber is calculated from the absolute
displacement of the body and suspension to embody the displacement-sensitive characteristics of
the shock absorber.
The main physical properties of quarter car simulation model are listed in Table 1.
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Fig. 7. Quarter car model including DSSA.

Table 1
Properties of quarter car model

Parameter Value

Sprung mass, M 250 kg

Un-sprung mass, m 50 kg
Shock absorber spring constant, K 18 N/mm
Shock absorber damping coefficient, C 1273–1697 N/m/s
Tire spring constant, k 270.8 N/mm
Tire damping coefficient, c1 0.1 N/m/s

To analyse the dynamic characteristics of the DSSA, four kinds of damping modes are selected
and the corresponding results are compared with each other, as listed in Table 2. The DSSA has
two kinds of damping modes according to the piston stroke, such as soft and hard mode. Here,
the mid-mode has an intermediate characteristic of the soft and hard mode. Thereby, the mid-
mode is estimated as a typical passive shock absorber in this paper.
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3.3. Results of frequency characteristics analysis

In general, driving characteristics of the vehicle are affected by sprung mass vertical
acceleration, dynamic wheel force and suspension deflection. The vertical acceleration of the
sprung mass means the magnitude of vibration transmitted to sprung mass, which is directly
related to the ride comfort. The dynamic wheel force affects on the holding force characteristics

Table 2
Definition of damping modes

Mode Damping coefficient (N/m/s) Damping ratio z

Soft mode 1273 0.3

Mid-mode 1485 0.35
Hard mode 1697 0.4
Displacement-sensitive mode 1273–1697 0.3–0.4

0.05
0.3
0.04
derivative of input [m/s]
input displacement [m]

0.2
0.03
0.1
0.02
0.0
0.01

0.00 -0.1

-0.01 -0.2

-0.02 -0.3

-0.03 -0.4
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
(a) time [s] (b) time [s]

-9
10
-10
10
-11
PSD of input [m2/Hz]

10
-12
10
-13
10
-14
10
-15
10
-16
10
-17
10
1 10 100
(c) Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 8. Input characteristics of quarter car model of DSSA: (a) input excitation signal, (b) derivative of input excitation
and (c) PSD of input.
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between the tire and road, which is related to the driving stability. And the suspension deflection is
related to the rattle space of the suspension system, which is necessary to operate suspension
system properly. Accordingly, it becomes a constraint condition at the initial stage of the
suspension system design.
To analyse the frequency characteristics of the DSSA in a quarter car model, the input
excitation signal is applied as described in Fig. 8. A sinusoidal sweep function from 0 to 30 Hz was
applied according to the road input condition. In each frequency range, the maximum velocity is
0.3 m/s. The velocity characteristics of input signal is shown in Fig. 8(b). As shown in figure, the
maximum velocity of input signal is a constant of the value 0.3 m/s. Also, the power spectrum
density (PSD) of input signal is illustrated in Fig. 8(c), which stands for the random process of the
road condition.
Fig. 9(a) shows the sprung mass acceleration response of the displacement-sensitive mode using
the DSSA in time domain against the input signal stated in Fig. 8. Also, Fig. 9(b) shows the PSD

4
sprung mass acceleration [m/s2]

-1

-2

-3

0 2 4 6 8 10
(a) time [s]
PSD of sprung mass acceleration [(m/s2)2/Hz]

mid mode
-5 soft mode
10 hard mode
disp.sensitive mode

hard mode

-6
10

soft mode
-7
10

1 10
(b) Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 9. Sprung mass acceleration response of displacement-sensitive mode: (a) time response of sprung mass
acceleration and (b) PSD of sprung mass acceleration response.
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of sprung mass acceleration response for the four damping modes, which is described in Table 2.
As shown in Fig. 9, the response characteristic of the DSSA shows a similar one with the passive
shock absorber around the resonance frequency range of sprung mass. However, at the resonance
frequency of un-sprung mass, which means low-amplitude condition of input, the DSSA shows
soft damping characteristics. Therefore, it can be said that the ride comfort characteristics of
DSSA was improved compared with the ones of passive shock absorber.
Fig. 10(a) shows the analysis result of suspension deflection of the displacement-sensitive mode
using the DSSA in the time domain. Fig. 10(b) shows the analysis results of suspension deflection
in the PSD for the four damping modes in the frequency domain. As shown in Fig. 10, the
response characteristic of the DSSA seems similar to the ones of passive shock absorber around
the resonance frequency range of sprung mass. However, at the resonance frequency of un-sprung
mass, the DSSA shows soft damping characteristics.
Fig. 11 (a) shows the analysis result of dynamic wheel force in the displacement-sensitive mode
using the DSSA in the time domain. Fig. 11 (a) shows response results of dynamic wheel force in
the PSD for the four damping modes in the frequency domain. As illustrated in Fig. 11, around
the resonance frequency of sprung mass, which means high-amplitude condition of input, the

0.04
suspension deflection [m]

0.02

0.00

-0.02

-0.04

-0.06
0 2 4 6 8 10
(a) time [s]

10-8
PSD of suspension deflection [m2/Hz]

soft mode mid mode

soft mode
hard mode
10-9 disp.sensitive mode

hard mode
disp. sensitive & soft mode
-10
10

10-11 hard mode

mid mode

10-12
1 10
(b) Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 10. Suspension deflection of displacement-sensitive mode: (a) time response of suspension acceleration and (b)
PSD of suspension deflection.
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7000

6000
dynamic wheel force [N]
5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0 2 4 6 8 10
(a) time [s]

1
10
soft mode &
disp. sensitive mode disp. sensitive mode
PSD of dynamic wheel force [N /Hz]

soft mode
mid mode
2

hard mode

100

hard mode

10-1

10-2
1 10
(b) Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 11. Response of dynamic wheel force in displacement-sensitive mode: (a) response of dynamic wheel force and (b)
response of dynamic wheel force in PSD.

DSSA shows slightly improved characteristics of driving safety compared with the ones of the
passive shock absorber.
This paper has a validation of a mathematical model for a sensitive shock damper. As a result,
the proposed DSSA has an engineering knowledge as follows. From the sprung mass acceleration
response analysis, the response characteristic of the DSSA showed soft damping characteristics,
which stands for the improvement of ride comfort characteristics of the DSSA compared with the
ones of passive shock absorber on the paved road driving conditions. From the analysis result of
suspension deflection, the response characteristic of DSSA showed soft damping characteristics,
which stands for the improvement of ride comfort characteristics of the DSSA. From the analysis
result of dynamic wheel force, the response characteristic of the DSSA showed improved
characteristics of driving safety compared in a high-amplitude condition. Those improved
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characteristics of ride comfort and driving safety will contribute to the design of a shock absorber.
And the geometry of the displacement-sensitive orifice will be defined in a further study.

4. Conclusions

In this study, a new mathematical dynamic model of the DSSA is proposed. The fluid rate and
the damping force of a shock absorber of an automotive system was theoretically formulated. The
analysis results of the proposed mathematical dynamic model of the DSSA showed similar results
of the corresponding experimental study. It is shown that the damping force could be efficiently
calculated according to the excitation. And the vehicle dynamic characteristic of the DSSA is
analysed using quarter car model. Several damping properties of the automotive shock absorber
that are of interest in vehicle vibration applications are reviewed in accordance with the ride
comfort problem. The simulation results of frequency response are compared with the ones of
passive shock absorber. From the analysis results of the DSSA, the ride comfort of the DSSA
increased. The results reported herein will provide a better understanding of the shock absorber.
Moreover, it is believed that those properties of the results can be utilised in the dynamic design of
the automotive system.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grant No: R08-2003-000-11075-0 from the basic Research
Program of the Korea Science Engineering Foundation and the authors wish to thank for this
support.

References

[1] L.H. Harvey, A study of the characteristics of automotive hydraulic dampers at high stroking frequencies, Ph.D.
Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, USA, December 1977.
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