Generation of Random Road Profiles

Abstract

In this work we review two of the most commonly adopted methods, namely shaping filter and sinusoidal approximation, for generating one-dimensional random road profiles, that are used in the simulation of a quarter car (or half car) vehicle suspension control system. The major contribution of this work is the following: for the shaping filter method, it is found that the time constant of the first order transfer function generating the road profile is independent of the grade of road. While for the sinusoidal approximation method, a detail derivation of the amplitude of each sinusoidal function is re-derived for completeness.