A study on skyhook-based suspension control algorithms with regards to tyre wear minimisation in hybrid vehicles

Electric and hybrid propulsion systems have been developed for ground vehicles, driven by the motivation of decreasing the particle emissions from the exhaust of conventional propulsion systems. However, the more environmentally friendly fully or hybrid electric vehicles are expected to have increased non-exhaust pollution related sources compared to a conventional vehicle. A fact that could potentially cancel the benefits of removing the exhaust, due to their significantly increased mass. One of the main sources of non-exhaust pollution is the tyre wear, and can jeopardise the benefits of electrification in ground transport systems. Hence, a reformulation is required, and this is where this works lies. Inner (tyre structure and shape) and external (suspension configuration, speed, road surface, etc.) factors are mainly affecting wear, and in this work, the emphasis is given on suspension systems and more specifically on the ability of semi-active suspensions to decrease tyre wear on a hybrid vehicle. In this direction, two demo vehicles provided by IPG CARMAKER 8.0, the Demo: V olvo_X C90_T8H ybrid and Demo_Volvo_XC90_T6AWD, are considered intially to compare their tyre wear during cornering over a class C road. Then, the Demo_Volvo_XC90_T8Hybrid is employed with both comfort (SH-2, SH-ADD-2 and ADD) and road holding (PDD, SH-PDD, and GH-2) oriented semi-active suspensions to investigate the induced levels of wear. Additionally, the suspension systems are also compared with regards to other vehicle performance aspects, i.e. comfort and stability.