Development of Uni-Axial Bushing Model for the Vehicle Dynamic Analysis Using the Bouc-Wen Hysteretic Model

In this paper, a new uni-axial bushing model for vehicle dynamics analysis is proposed. Bushing components of a vehicle suspension system are tested to capture the nonlinear and hysteric behavior of the typical rubber bushing elements using the MTS machine. The results of the tests are used to develop the Bouc-Wen bushing model. The Bouc-Wen model is employed to represent the hysteretic characteristics of the bushing. ADAMS program is used for the identification process and VisualDOC program is also used to find the optimal coefficients of the model. Genetic algorithm is employed to carry out the optimal design. A numerical example is suggested to verify the performance of the proposed model.