Possibilities and limitations with distributed damping in heavy vehicles

This paper investigates passive damping performance in heavy vehicles. The objective is comparison of conventional individual dampers and system with modally distributed damping. An analytical model with 7 DOF is first used to derive theoretical damping expressions. Considered degrees of freedom are for sprung mass; bounce, pitch, roll and for unsprung mass; bounce and roll. Vehicle simulations are then performed with a 4x2-tractor semitrailer combination. Load cases of both ride and handling character are used for damping system evaluation and comparison. The vehicle model with conventional individual dampers is validated against measurement data.