A hybrid optimization method to improve driver's comfort

In this paper a hybrid optimization method consisting in conjunction an evolutionary algorithm and a classical optimization method has been presented. This hybrid method has been used to select the parameters of a driver's seat of a special vehicle, which contributes directly to increase in driving comfort. A brief description of a vehicle mathematical model was formulated by using joint coordinates and homogenous transformations. Numerical simulations of optimization and dynamics have been performed over obstacles in a form of a speed bump. A subject of the investigations was to select such damping parameters to minimize amplitudes of driver's seat vibrations.