In the vehicle suspension system, an adjustable shock absorber is used to improve ride comfort and road handling by controlling the relative position and motion between vehicle body and wheels. In this study, a preliminary experiment is conducted for measuring the characteristics of an adjustable shock absorber in different operation conditions for building up the data bank. The parameters are then used to design the proposed linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller for the ride comfort and handling performances for a quarter-car suspension model under various road conditions. The results of the simulation indicated that the proposed system with LQR controller can improved the ride comfort performance in the proposed system. The characteristic analysis and result evaluation of ride comfort performance also has been evaluated by two international recommendations for vehicle suspension system.
