ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print) IJRMET Vol.

5, Issue 1, November 2014 - April 2015

A Improved Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension: Mathematical

Modeling and Simulation
1
Tian-hong Luo, 1Ting-qiong Cui, 2Wen-jun Luo, 1Xun-jia Zheng, 2Chao Lin,
3
Cai-xia Yang, 1Qi-guo Hu
1
College of Mechanics & Automobile Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, China
2
The State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
3
Zhengzhou Yutong Heavy Industries Co, Ltd, Henan, China

Abstract hydro-pneumatic suspension system with interconnection of

In order to meet the requirements of space limitation and comfort tonnage vehicle was settled up in AMESim environment. On
for the two-axle vehicle with large tonnage, a new improved hydro- the basis of the mathematical model and simulation model,
pneumatic suspension with the interconnection type about right and we researched and analyzed some important parameters on the
left was built. After analyzing the working principle, the structure dynamic characteristics of the whole system with the aid of testing.
parameters and mathematical model of the new improved system Result shows that the new hydro-pneumatic suspension with the
was established, besides, with AMESim simulation software, the interconnection meet the requirements of the space constraints, the
dynamic simulation model of the nonlinear large tonnage improved response time of excitation for the vertical displacement and the
hydro-pneumatic suspension system with the interconnection vertical acceleration of the body are shorten obviously, the ability
type about right and left was set up. According to the established to adjust the fluctuation volatility has improved significantly.
mathematical model and simulation model, through the test,
various parameters such as accumulator rechargeable pressure, II. The Structure and Theory
damping hole diameter, tracking controller were respectively In order to better absorb the damping generated from the suspension
researched and analyzed in order to obtain the influence on piston’s back and forth moving, we adopt a paralleled built-in
dynamic characteristics of the whole system. The comparison damping hole on the suspension piston rod, the damping hole and
results showed that the new improved hydro-pneumatic suspension one-way valve are installed in hydraulic pressure cylinder or in the
not only satisfy the stability and comfort but also resolve the space oil line connected with the accumulator. The throttling loss will be
problem to make the whole structure compact. generated when oil passes the damping hole and then the energy
is weakened to suppress vibration. Designing a compensation
Keywords chamber in the top of piston to ensure the piston’s pressure in
Two-Axle Vehicle, Interconnected Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension, the static balance; At the same time, installing a pressure control
Amesim, Dynamic Simulation tracker to weaken body shaking caused by poor load resistance
of accumulator ,as shown in fig. 1.
I. Introduction
With domestic production and construction applications surging in
demand, mining engineering and other construction engineering
vehicles become more and more widespread. The load carrying
capabilities of the vehicle is heavier and heavier, besides, the driving
road condition is becoming more and more uncertain currently [1].
In this situation, the requirements for the suspension are higher [2].
It is of great significance that developed a suspension which is not
only satisfied the stability and passenger comfort but also realized
compact space constraints. The hydro-pneumatic suspension
system [3] with its superior non-linear characteristics and excellent
vibration reduction performance satisfies the requirement of the
engineering large-tonnage vehicle ride comfort, and improves the
riding comfort of vehicles to the maximum. Hydro-pneumatic
suspension research has been very comprehensively in foreign
countries, such as Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, etc;
therefore there have been many mature application products. [4-6]. Fig. 1: The Structure of Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension
But comparing the domestic and foreign advanced level there are 1 frame 7 piston with pneumatic
still large gaps because the domestic researches started relatively
2 accumulator 8 cylinder
late [7, 8]. Some large scale production units, research institutes
and famous universities made some preliminary theoretical 3 trace element pressure 9 built-in storage
analysis and research on hydro-pneumatic suspension, such as 4 damping hole 10 piston rod
xugong group, Shanghai heavy truck manufacturer [9]. But they 5 piston 11 wheel
prefer to theory introduce and computer simulation analysis [10,
6 compensation hole 12 axle
11], little research on the structure optimization [12].
This paper puts forward a new and improved interconnection The left side of body is tilted when the vehicle running on the
hydro-pneumatic suspension. Through establishing mathematical road with large slope, the left side of the body will sink due to
model, the nonlinear dynamic simulation model of improved compression force which comes from the left side of hydraulic

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IJRMET Vol. 5, Issue 1, November 2014 - April 2015 ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)

cylinder. At the same time the right side of the body rises because The above deduction is mathematical model of hydro-pneumatic
it subject to additional tensile force produced by the hydraulic oil suspension with the interconnection about right and left, summing
cylinder of the right body. Through the oil cylinder chamber’s up all the formats, it can be derived that the output force F of the
connection, the pressure of big cavity on left side of the oil cylinder suspension in the vertical direction is the aggregation of the output
increased, and the pressure of small cavity on left side increased of the left and right, that is:
correspondingly, forcing the right side of the body has a downward 1 1  1 πd 2
trend; On the contrary, the left side of the car body raised when it F = πd 2 P0 V0 r  r + r  − πD 2ρ( ）
�
S T  8 4
is stimulated by the road, the big cavity pressure of left side of the (6)
 x l  2  x r 
2

oil cylinder decreases, the right side of the body has a tendency   sign(x
 l ) +   sign(x
 )
r 
to rise by the oil absorbing.  L  R 
In addition, for the two-axle vehicle with large tonnage, the πLφ(2D 2 − d 2 )
hydro-pneumatic pressure of suspension system changed when S = 4V0 + πd 2 x +
2
the vehicle in full load and off-load, the vehicle will be shaking
inevitably with full load and off-load switching, thus affecting πLφ(2D 2 − d 2 )
T = 4V0 + πd 2 x −
comfortableness [13 -15]. Placed pressure control trace element 2
at the bottom of the accumulator, the pressure signal feedback L = Cz A c + 0.5Cd A d (1 − signx l )
to the controller which sends a signal to open corresponding
electromagnetic valve, in order to realize the corresponding R = Cz A c + 0.5Cd A d (1 − signx r )
adjustment of accumulator pressure; As the load of the vehicle From the analysis of fig. 1 the output torque is:
is varies, the controller make the shaft’s internal pressure of the
interconnection hydro-pneumatic suspension system under its
best condition all the time. (7)

III. The Establishment of Nonlinear Mathematical

Model In type 6, the elastic force of the gas of the first is settled Ft, the
According to the fig. 1, the left and right side of the hydro- second refers to damping
pneumatic suspension structure is analyzed. The damping force of force generated from the hydro-pneumatic suspension damping
compensation hole and the area of ring compensation are ignored hole, namely FZ.
in the process of modeling [16].
The output force of the hydro-pneumatic suspension: 1 1  (8)
Ft = πd 2 P0 V0 r  r + r 
S T 
Fl = Pl1A l1 − Pl2 A l2 (1)
 πd 2  x l 
2 2

1  x 
Fr = Pr1A r1 − Pr 2 A r 2 Fz = πD 2ρ( ）（  sign(x l ) +  r  sign(x r )  9 (9)
8 4  L  R 
The flow equation is: The vertical stiffness of the new hydro-pneumatic suspension can
 1  Ql 
2
be deduced based on the derivative of the displacement expression
∆Pl = Pl1 − Pl2 = ρ   sign(x l ) in the type (8), as following:
 2  Cd A lc 
 2
(2)
 1  Qr  π2 d 4 rP0 V0 r  1 1 
∆Pr = Pr1 − Pr 2 = ρ   sign(x r ) K = dF / dx =  r +1
+ r +1  (10)
2  Cd A rc  4 M N 

The relationship between the relative speeds of main piston to the The above mathematical model shows that when the new
cylinder and flow of damping hole is as follows: hydro-pneumatic suspension has a certain inclination angle in
Ql = A l1x l
the body, the suspension output power in the vertical direction,
Q = A x the torque、the vertical stiffness and the relationship of each
 r

r1 r
(3) parameter influence are the theoretical basis for the study of hydro-
P
 l3 = Pl2 − C d Q l pneumatic suspension structure.
Pr3 = Pr 2 − Cd Q r
Analyze the external accumulator, the performance of the gas IV. The Simulation and Results
in hydro-pneumatic suspension is close to the ideal gas which is
nitrogen, most literature regards gas as the ideal gas when studying A. AMESim Model is Established
hydro-pneumatic suspension [17]. So the change process can Based on the dynamic simulation software of LMS Lmagine
be described by the state equation of ideal gas. Lab AMESim, the compressibility of the oil and the nonlinear
characteristics of the components (hysteresis, dead zone, leakage,
Pl4 Vl = p 0 V0
r r

 (4) static friction, dynamic friction and damping force, etc.) have
r r
Pr 4 Vr = p 0 V0 been fully considered in the model, according to the steps of
The actual volume of accumulator can be derived from the above modeling, select the appropriate modules in sketch and connect it
reasoning: ,then choose hydraulic signs, so as to establish simulation model
of hydro-pneumatic suspension system as shown in fig. 2.
 Lφ Lφ
Vl = V0 + A l1 (x + 2 ) − A l2 (x − 2 )
 (5)
V = V + A (x − Lφ ) − A (x + Lφ )
 r 0 r1
2
r2
2

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ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print) IJRMET Vol. 5, Issue 1, November 2014 - April 2015

Table 2: Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension System Simulation Model

Parameters
Parameter Sign Unite Value
The gas pressure of external pa
P 9.25e6
accumulator on the left
The gas pressure of external v m3 2.0e-3
accumulator on the right
Polytrophic exponent r — 1.4
The inner diameter of cylinder d1 m 0.11
The outer diameter of the piston d2 m 0.09
rod
Tire stiffness K0 N .m −1 265000
The mounting distance of the a m 1.87
suspension
The density of hydraulic oil r kg .m −3 875

Diameter of damping hole d3 m 0.0025

Diameter of one-way valve ball d4 m 0.008

Orifice flow coefficient Cd1 — 0.78

Fig. 2: Simulation Model of Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension
Orifice flow coefficient of one- Cd 2
System — 0.72
way valve
The number of one-way valve n — 2
and damping hole
Quality of single axle M1 m 20000
suspension
Quality of nonsuspended M2 m 400

B. Influence of Improving the Structure on the Hydro-

Pneumatic Suspension Performance

1. The Influence of the Accumulator

Table 3 and Table 4 are the simulation results of body comfort. from
Table 2, it is can be seen that with the increase of initial built-in
storage chamber inflation pressure gradually, the body of vertical
vibration acceleration is decrease and then increase gradually,
but the dynamic deflection of hydro-pneumatic suspension is
gradually decrease, the relative dynamic load of wheels are also
gradually reduce.
From Table 4 it can be seen that, the relative dynamic load of the
wheels, the dynamic deflection of the hydro-pneumatic suspension
has a positive relationship with the chargeable pressure of external
accumulator, while it has an inverse relationship with the vibration
acceleration in the body vertical direction. And the positive-inverse
trend is nonlinear obviously.

Table 3: The Square Root Value of Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension

Under Different Inflation Pressure Inside of Accumulator
Fig. 3: The Source Code of Tracking Controller Initial inflation Body The dynamic Relative
pressure acceleration deflection dynamic
This model adopts HCD hydraulic components in the AMESim ( Mpa ) ( m.s−2 ) ( mm ) load
software to model tracking controller. The parameter setting is a
1.5 2.07 16.7 0.194
big problem in this process. Part of the parameter of the tracking
controller program source code as shown in fig. 3, Table 2 is 2.5 1.99 16.4 0.179
parameters setting of standard hydraulic component. 3.0 2.00 16.2 0.167
4.0 2.02 16.1 0.162

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IJRMET Vol. 5, Issue 1, November 2014 - April 2015 ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)

Table 4: The Square Root Value of Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension

Under Different Inflation Pressure Accumulator External
Body The dynamic Relative
Initial
acceler-ation deflection dynamic
inflation( Mpa )
( m.s−2 ) ( mm ) load
1.5 1.89 16.1 0.155
2.5 2.09 16.3 0.157
3.0 2.03 16.5 0.160
4.0 1.78 16.7 0.161
This paper adopted the combination of inner and outer accumulator
to satisfy ride comfort of two axis vehicle with large tonnage while Fig. 4: Body Vertical Displacement Under Different Damping
the relative dynamic load of the body movement has a certain Hole Diameter
impact. The influence on ride comfort of built-in accumulator
vehicle is relatively larger; the influence on extra accumulator
is relatively small. All of those can be analyzed from the two
tables.

2. The Influence of Damping Characteristics

The simulation results of body comfort as shown in Table 5.
Damping coefficient and the body vertical vibration acceleration is
proportional to the relationship; hydro-pneumatic suspension and
wheel are inversely proportional to the relative dynamic load. This
trends of proportional and inverse obviously is a nonlinear.
Fig. 5: The Body Vertical Acceleration Under Different Damping
Table 5: The Square Root Value of Hydro-Pneumatic Suspension Hole Diameter
Under Different Damping Coefficient of Piston Rod
Damping Body dynamic relative 3. The influence of Tracking Controller
coefficient Acceleration deflection dynamic According to the result of simulation which is on the condition of
(c) ( m.s−2 ) ( mm ) load the other parameters selected optimal and the difference in input,
the following are the vertical displacement of the car body and
2500 1.83 20 0.203
vertical acceleration of the body under the incentive for 8 Hz, 5
3000 1.99 18 0.189 Hz, and 2.5 Hz on the simulation to get rid of tracking controller
3500 2.13 16.6 0.175 and keep tracking controller system.
4200 2.89 15.2 0.163

Fig. 4 and fig. 5 shows how the piston damping hole in the
hydraulic cylinder under different diameter influences the
vertical displacement and acceleration of the car, which is how
it influences the smoothness. After analyzing the two figures, it
can be seen that the response time of incentive of body vertical
displacement and vertical acceleration become short as damping
hole diameter reduction under the reasonable range of diameter
.The maximum overshoot of body shock displacement and the
peak value of acceleration become smaller and smaller with the
damping hole diameter became smaller, from the above tests, it can
be concluded that the system with small damping hole has bigger Fig. 6: Vertical Displacements Under Different Excitation
damping relatively, mainly because the influence of damping force Controller System
which comes from damping orifice flow area of hydro-pneumatic
suspension, thus has influence on vibration characteristics of
hydro-pneumatic suspension. The response time of body vertical
displacement shortened when the diameter range of damping hole
to reduce, the number of shocks have increased accompanying
with mutations at the same time, the peak value of acceleration
increase due to the oil cavity pressure of internal, this means
that, the diameter of damping hole is not as small as possible,
the smaller damping hole will make body shock increased. So,
selection the damping hole diameter will ensure the ride comfort
requirements effectively in the process of driving.
Fig. 7: Getting Rid of Controller System Under Different Excitation
of Vertical Displacements

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ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)
Comparing the fig. 6 and fig. 7 that can be seen the vertical
displacement increase with the constantly excitation increases
under the condition of invariable of the external, the response
time to excitation within 3 seconds to reach the state of the
relative balance with no tracking controller in the system,
while response time within 1.5 seconds to reach the state of
relative balance with the tracking controller of excitation.
Fig. 8: Vertical Acceleration of Body Under Different Stimulating
Condition Without Controller System
Fig. 9: Vertical Acceleration of Body With Controller System
Stimulation
Comparing the fig. 8 and fig. 9 it can be seen that the excitation
increased accompany with the vertical acceleration of vehicle
increases when the external conditions unchanged. The response
time to excitation within 3 seconds to reach the state of the relative
balance in the system with no tracking controller in the system,
similarly to the excitation response time has reached a state of
relative balance within 1.5 seconds with tracking controller in
the system.
Comparing fig. 8 and fig. 9 comprehensively it can be seen that
under great different stimulation condition, the ability to adjust
the fluctuation is improved obviously and the response time to
excitation of body vertical displacement is shortened significantly
when compared to the system without controller system but keep
tracking controller.
V. Conclusion
Analyzing the principle of hydro-pneumatic suspension design
meeting the vehicle traffic safety and smoothness and considering
the comfort and operability and other space constraints conditions
of the large-tonnage vehicle, we have finished the following works
mainly:
w w w. i j r m e t. c o m
IJRMET Vol. 5, Issue 1, November 2014 - April 2015
1. A new and improved hydro-pneumatic suspension with the
interconnection type about right and left was proposed; thereby
a new solution appears to improve operating smoothness and
comfortableness of the large tonnage two axis vehicles with
limited space.
2. To establish the mathematical model of new structure for
hydro-pneumatic suspension, the parameter of structure is
setting.
Analyzing the influence of improved parameters on the vehicle
comfortableness with the AMEsim simulation software. Results
shows that the improved model about interconnection suspension
of hydro-pneumatic meets the space constraints, the vertical
displacement of the body and the vertical acceleration for
motivation significantly shorten the response time, the ability to
adjust fluctuation has improved significantly.
Nomenclature
Pl1 、 Pr1 : The pressure of cavity A
Pl2 、 Pr 2 : The pressure of cavity Bl 、 Br
Pl3 、 Pr3 : The pressure of inside accumulator
∆Pr : The difference in pressure
between A r and Br
∆Pl : The difference in pressure
between A r And Br
Fl 、 Fr ： the output power of the right side
and left side respectively
Fz ： The damping force which is generated by
damping hole of hydro-pneumatic suspension
Ft ： The the elastic force of the gas
x l 、 x l ： The speed of the left and right side of
the body respectively
xl 、 xr : Displacement of the left and right side of
the body respectively
Al1 、 Ar1 : The area of piston A
Al 2 、 Ar 2 : The area of piston B
ρ : Density of the hydraulic oil
Cd : The orifice discharge coefficient
Vl 、 Vr : The actual gas volume of accumulator
for the left and right side
V0 : The volume of external accumulator in
a static balance
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