Damage Identification of Ground Vehicle Through Passive Probing of Suspension Damping

While active suspension systems have been shown to be effective in the real-time optimization of vehicle ride and handling, these systems also present a means for damage detection and condition monitoring. This research demonstrates the ability to detect damage in a ground vehicle by passively tuning a suspension system to systematically alter the suspension parameters in order to probe the vehicle system response. By modulating the suspension parameters at a particular corner of the vehicle, or combinations of corners, selected operational modes of the sprung and unsprung masses were accentuated providing an increased ability to detect and locate damage in certain vehicle components. The experimental data demonstrates that the ability to detect damage is increased by an average of 71 % for the seven damage conditions that are tested with the passive probing technique. Theoretical and experimental data are also presented that demonstrate the potential of the passive probing concept to increase the ability to locate and quantify damage. The ability to detect vehicle damage during operation could contribute to improved safety and enable condition-based maintenance for reduced life cycle cost.