Comparison of semi-physical and black-box bushing model for vehicle dynamics simulation

Since bushing components have highly nonlinear characteristics according to the amplitude and the frequency, it is hard to derive a mathematical modeling of the bushing. In this paper, a semi-physical bushing model and a black-box bushing model are derived and compared. A Bouc-Wen hysteretic model is employed to derive a semi-physical model and an artificial neural network algorithm is used to make a black-box bushing model. A 3-axes MTS rubber test machine is used to capture the bushing characteristics. Sine excitation tests based on the different frequencies and different amplitudes are performed to find out the bushing characteristics. Random test results are also used to generate the coefficients of a semi-physical model and weighting factors of the black-box model. Random simulations are carried out to verify the bushing models and the results are compared with each other according to the numerical efficiency and accuracy.