An optimal design problem is formulated for a five degree of freedom model of passenger cars. While the objective function is the ride quality, the constraints are imposed on the transient response to a bump-type road input and the steadystate response to a smooth highway road input. The optimal design technique is applied to a selected car adopting the generalized steepest descent method.
It is found that the effects of all suspension spring values on the final design were dominant.
Car speed and bump-type are also varied within a limited range to investigate their effects on the final design variables.
