An integrated mechanical-control design methodology for the active suspension of lunar crewed vehicles

The main goal of this study is to formulate a methodology for the concurrent design of mechanical parameters and the control law. In this paper, a method is proposed to calculate the parameters of a parallel active suspension for lunar crewed vehicles. An approach to quantify the coupling between mechanical parameters and the control law is facilitated by a simultaneous design strategy. The efficiency of the concurrent method is demonstrated through multibody dynamics simulations of suspension designs for lunar crewed vehicles. From the main results obtained, it can be drawn that the enhancement of dynamic performance, as evidenced through the stability improvement under high-speed travel, the suppression of vibration in the sprung mass and the limitation of active compensation thresholds, is achieved in comparison to both passive suspension and sequentially designed active suspension.