Beyond Linear Limits: Advanced Nonlinear Suspensions for Enhanced Vibration Control

Samani, Farhad S.; Mehrabian, Amirali; Zippo, Antonio; Pellicano, Francesco

doi:10.3390/machines14020209

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Beyond Linear Limits: Advanced Nonlinear Suspensions for Enhanced Vibration Control

¹

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman 76169-14111, Iran

²

Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, Centre InterMech MoRe, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Machines 2026, 14(2), 209; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14020209

Submission received: 22 December 2025 / Revised: 2 February 2026 / Accepted: 5 February 2026 / Published: 10 February 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mastering Vibrations: The Latest Breakthroughs in Control for Mechanical Systems)

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Abstract

The vehicle suspensions have the primary task of attenuating the forces coming from the road surface. The performance is directly linked to the stiffness of the suspension system. Traditional suspensions, composed of linear elements, effectively damp high frequencies but perform poorly at low frequencies. In this regard, non-linear suspensions, characterized by a non-linear force–displacement relationship, have been introduced. These types of suspensions achieve this characteristic by combining elements with positive stiffness with elements with negative stiffness, resulting in an equivalent system with quasi-zero stiffness (QZS) around the equilibrium. The performance of the QZS suspension system is analyzed here using the Multibody Dynamics software MSC Adams^® (2022.2). Static characteristics, transmissibility, and isolation performance are investigated through dynamic tests based on road profiles according to ISO 8608 regulations generated using MATLAB^® (R2022b). The proposed quasi-zero stiffness suspension demonstrates an improvement of approximately 19% in vibration attenuation compared to a conventional suspension system under realistic road excitations.

Keywords: quasi-zero stiffness; non-linear suspension; primary vehicle suspension; multibody dynamics; vibration isolation; ride comfort; ISO 8608

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MDPI and ACS Style

Samani, F.S.; Mehrabian, A.; Zippo, A.; Pellicano, F. Beyond Linear Limits: Advanced Nonlinear Suspensions for Enhanced Vibration Control. Machines 2026, 14, 209. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14020209

AMA Style

Samani FS, Mehrabian A, Zippo A, Pellicano F. Beyond Linear Limits: Advanced Nonlinear Suspensions for Enhanced Vibration Control. Machines. 2026; 14(2):209. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14020209

Chicago/Turabian Style

Samani, Farhad S., Amirali Mehrabian, Antonio Zippo, and Francesco Pellicano. 2026. "Beyond Linear Limits: Advanced Nonlinear Suspensions for Enhanced Vibration Control" Machines 14, no. 2: 209. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14020209

APA Style

Samani, F. S., Mehrabian, A., Zippo, A., & Pellicano, F. (2026). Beyond Linear Limits: Advanced Nonlinear Suspensions for Enhanced Vibration Control. Machines, 14(2), 209. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14020209

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Beyond Linear Limits: Advanced Nonlinear Suspensions for Enhanced Vibration Control

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