Modelling high frequency force behaviour of hydraulic automotive dampers

Little information on automotive damper performance above 30 Hz is found in the published literature. Design of vehicles for low levels of noise, vibration and harshness requires attention to higher frequencies. This paper describes research into modelling damper behaviour at frequencies up to 500 Hz. The performance of a monotube damper was measured and the empirical data were used to evaluate a recently published parametric model. Methods of assessing prediction accuracy using transfer and coherence functions, and a wavelet-based transfer function were introduced. Modifications to the model were then developed to improve the prediction of high-frequency behaviour.