High downforce race car vertical dynamics: aerodynamic index

Race car performance is strongly affected by aerodynamics. Due to downforce generated by the vehicle floor (i.e. diffuser), vehicle ride heights are key parameters to improve performance, and the coupling of aerodynamics and suspension is one of the key points of race car setting. This work focuses on the suspension and aerodynamic coupling from the vertical dynamics point of view. Besides road holding performance, for race cars, aerodynamic performance and stability are major factors. Downforce decreases laptime (the main performance target) but pitch instability is a non-desired effect that can happen in high downforce race cars. A new vertical dynamic performance index is proposed through the use of simulation to improve aerodynamic performance and understand the pitch instability phenomenon. This new index uses all relevant vehicle nonlinearities related to vertical dynamics and can handle a specific track profile and vehicle speed range, allowing the analysis be conducted according to a circuit specification. A previously validated Formula 3 car model was used as an example.     

基于改进人工势场的自动驾驶汽车弯道超车动态路径规划

动态路径规划是自动驾驶汽车避障控制的关键技术。针对自动驾驶汽车弯道超车工况，建立基于改进人工势场(Artificial Potential Field, APF)的动态路径规划方法。为使基于APF的动态路径规划方法能运用于包含弯曲道路的复杂交通环境，将已在直道环境验证过的道路APF函数通过极坐标系与笛卡尔坐标系的相互转换，建立考虑道路曲率的弯曲道路APF函数。针对根据车辆质心位置判断车辆碰撞风险方法存在的缺陷，提出考虑车辆体积的碰撞风险预判方法，建立综合考虑车辆位置、速度和体积的障碍车辆APF函数。基于弯曲道路APF和改进障碍车辆APF，建立道路环境综合APF，引导车辆实现弯道超车。为避免目标函数中子目标相互干涉，提高弯道超车安全性，提出根据本车与障碍车辆相对位置关系自适应调整权重矩阵的方法。基于Carsim/Simulink联合仿真平台，分别在静态障碍车辆和动态障碍车辆2种工况下，验证自动驾驶汽车弯道超车动态路径规划的有效性。研究结果表明：所建立的弯曲道路APF能引导车辆转弯行驶，避免冲出车道；目标函数权重自适应调整方法能根据超车过程动态调整子目标的权重，规划出符合道路交通安全法规的路径，避免车辆超车时提前折返原车道，提高了超车安全性；考虑车辆体积的障碍车辆APF提高了车辆碰撞风险的预判精度，有效避免碰撞事故发生。     

Advanced vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks with the perspective of road safety

ABSTRACT

This paper presents state-of-the art within advanced vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks with the perspective of road safety. The most common accidents with heavy trucks involved are truck against passenger cars. Safety critical situations are for example loss of control (such as rollover and lateral stability) and a majority of these occur during speed when cornering. Other critical situations are avoidance manoeuvre and road edge recovery. The dynamic behaviour of heavy trucks have significant differences compared to passenger cars and as a consequence, successful application of vehicle dynamic functions for enhanced safety of trucks might differ from the functions in passenger cars. Here, the differences between vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks and passenger cars are clarified. Advanced vehicle dynamics solutions with the perspective of road safety of trucks are presented, beginning with the topic vehicle stability, followed by the steering system, the braking system and driver assistance systems that differ in some way from that of passenger cars as well.     

Vehicle dynamics control using an active third-axle system

This paper introduces the active third-axle system as an innovative vehicle dynamic control method. This method can be applicable for different kinds of three-axle vehicles such as buses, trucks, or even three-axle passenger cars. In this system, an actuator on the middle axle actively applies an independent force on the suspension to improve the handling characteristics, and hence, its technology is similar to slow-active suspension systems. This system can change the inherent vehicle dynamic characteristics, such as under/over steering behaviour, in the linear handling region, as well as vehicle stability in the nonlinear, limit handling region. In this paper, our main focus is to show the potential capabilities of this method in enhancing vehicle dynamic performance. For this purpose, as the first step, the proposed method in both linear and nonlinear vehicle handling regions is studied mathematically. Next, a comprehensive, nonlinear, 10 degrees of freedom vehicle model with a fuzzy control strategy is used to evaluate the effectiveness of this system. The dynamic behaviour of a vehicle, when either uncontrolled or equipped with the active third axle is then compared. Simulation results show that this active system can be considered as an innovative method for vehicle dynamic control.     

Analysis of handling performance based on simplified lateral vehicle dynamics

In this article, the analysis methods for vehicle handling performance are studied. Using simple models, dynamic characteristic parameters such as yaw, natural frequency, and the damping coefficient of a vehicle can be theoretically formulated. Here, the vehicle is simplified by a bicycle (single-track) model, and the tire is modeled by an equivalent cornering stiffness and first order lag. From the experimental road data, the tire model parameters (equivalent cornering stiffness and time lag constant) are extracted. These parameters are then inserted into the theoretically formulated equations of dynamic characteristic parameters. For the purpose of validating the efficiency of the suggested methods, experimental road tests (where the cars have different handling performances) are performed. The results show that vehicle handling performance can be sufficiently represented by the suggested dynamic characteristic parameters. So, it is concluded that the proposed method has practical use for the development of new cars or for the comparison of similar cars since the evaluations of the vehicle handling performance can be efficiently determined by the suggested dynamic characteristic parameters.     

车辆前端水箱框架结构对碰撞性能影响

伴随中国经济的快速发展,中国汽车行业也发生了翻天覆地的变化,中国汽车的保有量在不断增多,带来中国的道路交通形式也日趋复杂,使得汽车消费者购车已不仅仅是购买一辆代步工具而已,在选车购车时而是对车辆的安全性能的重视程度在越来越高;汽车企业也把车辆安全性能开发放到了至关重要的位置,加大各种研发手段及技术能力的储备和投入,促使中国汽车安全技术发展在不断进步,车辆的安全性能也在不断提高。本文主要对车辆前端的水箱框架进行研究,研究其对车辆安全性能的影响,以指导车辆被动安全性能的开发。     

Fuzzy and adaptive fuzzy control for the automobiles' active suspension system

Two typical criteria for good vehicle suspension performance are their ability to provide good road handling and increased passenger comfort. The main disturbance affecting these two criteria is terrain irregularities. Active suspension control systems reduce these undesirable effects by isolating car body motion from vibrations at the wheels. This paper describes fuzzy and adaptive fuzzy control (AFC) schemes for the automobile active suspension system (ASS). The design objective is to provide smooth vertical motion so as to achieve the road holding and riding comfort over a wide range of road profiles. The efficacy of the proposed control schemes is demonstrated via simulations. With respect to the optimal linear quadratic regulator (LQR), it is shown that superior results have been achieved by the AFC.     

Fuzzy and adaptive fuzzy control for the automobiles’ active suspension system

Two typical criteria for good vehicle suspension performance are their ability to provide good road handling and increased passenger comfort. The main disturbance affecting these two criteria is terrain irregularities. Active suspension control systems reduce these undesirable effects by isolating car body motion from vibrations at the wheels. This paper describes fuzzy and adaptive fuzzy control (AFC) schemes for the automobile active suspension system (ASS). The design objective is to provide smooth vertical motion so as to achieve the road holding and riding comfort over a wide range of road profiles. The efficacy of the proposed control schemes is demonstrated via simulations. With respect to the optimal linear quadratic regulator (LQR), it is shown that superior results have been achieved by the AFC.     

Effective assessment of tyre–road friction coefficient using a hybrid estimator

Vehicle stability and active safety control depend heavily on tyre forces available on each wheel of a vehicle. Since tyre forces are strongly affected by the tyre–road friction coefficient, it is crucial to optimise the use of the adhesion limits of the tyres. This study presents a hybrid method to identify the road friction limitation; it contributes significantly to active vehicle safety. A hybrid estimator is developed based on the three degrees-of-freedom vehicle model, which considers longitudinal, lateral and yaw motions. The proposed hybrid estimator includes two sub-estimators: one is the vehicle state information estimator using the unscented Kalman filter and another is the integrated road friction estimator. By connecting two sub-estimators simultaneously, the proposed algorithm can effectively estimate the road friction coefficient. The performance of the proposed estimation algorithm is validated in CarSim/Matlab co-simulation environment under three different road conditions (high-μ, low-μ and mixed-μ). Simulation results show that the proposed estimator can assess vehicle states and road friction coefficient with good accuracy.     

Application of viability theory for road vehicle active safety during cornering manoeuvres

Viability theory proposes geometric metaphors in addition to classical ordinary differential equation analysis. In this paper, advantages of applying viability theory to road safety domain are presented. The exact issue is to determine if, from an initial state of a vehicle/road/driver system, a soft controls strategy is compatible with a safe driving sequence. The case of a car negotiating a curve is considered. The application of the viability theory to this issue offers the advantage to avoid classical full computing of the system. Instead of that, it consists on verifying that the states and the controls belong to a subset called the viability kernel. The construction and the use of the viability kernel for a vehicle system dynamic is proposed by using support vector machines algorithm. Then, the applicability of this theory is demonstrated through experimental tests. This innovative application of the viability theory to vehicle dynamics with road safety concerns could benefit to robust embedded warning systems.     

Vehicle dynamics control by using a three-dimensional stabilizer pendulum system

Active safety systems of a vehicle normally work well on tyre–road interactions, however, these systems deteriorate in performance on low-friction road conditions. To combat this effect, an innovative idea for the yaw moment and roll dynamic control is presented in this paper. This idea was inspired by the chase and run dynamics animals like cheetahs in the nature; cheetahs have the ability to swerve while running at very high speeds. A cheetah controls its dynamics by rotating its long tail. A three-dimensional stabilizer pendulum system (3D-SPS) resembles the rotational motion of the tail of a cheetah to improve the stability and safety of a vehicle. The idea has been developed in a stand-alone 3D stabilizer pendulum system as well as in an integrated control system, which consists of an ordinary differential braking direct yaw control (DYC) and active steering control that is assisted by the 3D-SPS. The performance of the proposed 3D-SPS has been evaluated over a wide range of handling manoeuvres by using a comprehensive numerical simulation. The results show the advantage of 3D-SPS over conventional control approaches, which are ineffective on low-friction road conditions and high lateral acceleration manoeuvres. It should however be noted that the best vehicle dynamics performance is obtained when an integrated 3D-SPS and DYC and AFS is utilised.     

Possibilities to improve the ride and handling performance of delivery trucks by modern mechatronic systems

The ride and handling qualities of conventional delivery trucks are wores compared to modern passenger cars. However this vehicles have the power to drive as fast as passenger cars. Vehicle comfort and driving safety are mostly influenced by vertical accelerations and vehicle movements caused by pitch and roll motions. In the paper “Vehicle Dynamics with Adaptive or Semi-Active Suspension Systems – Demands on Software and Hardware” Wallentowitz and Ridlich have shown at AVEC'94 in which way tyre stiffness, shock absorber characteristics, spring stiffness and unsprung mass have an influence on vehicle comfort and active safety. They achieved these results by the theoretical analysis of a quarter-vehicle-model. Their examinations are extended in this paper on the model of a complete delivery truck. By the use of the multibody-simulation tool SIMPACK the road performance of a delivery truck will be analysed. Therefore a complex model of the vehicle has been built up in SIMPACK. Several computer simulations have been carried out to analyse the vehicle comfort and handling characteristics in different standard driving manoeuvres.Furthermore, the potential of improvements is shown by simulating different driving manoeuvres with the complete vehicle model by varying some vehicle characteristics such as tyre stiffness, shock absorber characteristics, spring stiffness and unsprung mass.In addition to that, simulations with models of unconventional spring- and damper-systems have been carried out to demonstrate the potential of improvements by the use of these systems. Two different controller algorithms for a semiactive and an active suspension system have been used an will be compared in this paper.     

基于主动安全的轮间电控限滑差速器控制方法研究

论述了电控限滑差速器(ELSD)改善汽车动力学特性的原理,提出了基于提高汽车主动安全性的控制方法。该方法利用前馈与误差反馈控制相结合来控制车辆运动状态。反馈系数根据最优控制的方法确定。通过对所述控制系统的仿真研究,证明该系统在各种路面条件下均可明显改善汽车的操纵稳定性与主动安全性。     

磁流变半主动悬架研究及实车试验分析

针对车辆半主动悬架系统的整车协调控制,通过悬架动力学模型分析了耦合量的影响,提出了一种主从控制方法.基于自行研制的并联常通孔式磁流变减振器和控制系统开展了实车道路试验.在越野路行驶时,驾驶员坐垫处的加权加速度降低了13.8％～42.6％,车身俯仰角速度降低了21.1％～53.7％;蛇行试验中车身侧倾角速度、角度分别平均...     

Sliding mode-based lateral vehicle dynamics control using tyre force measurements

In this work, a lateral vehicle dynamics control based on tyre force measurements is proposed. Most of the lateral vehicle dynamics control schemes are based on yaw rate whereas tyre forces are the most important variables in vehicle dynamics as tyres are the only contact points between the vehicle and road. In the proposed method, active front steering is employed to uniformly distribute the required lateral force among the front left and right tyres. The force distribution is quantified through the tyre utilisation coefficients. In order to address the nonlinearities and uncertainties of the vehicle model, a gain scheduling sliding-mode control technique is used. In addition to stabilising the lateral dynamics, the proposed controller is able to maintain maximum lateral acceleration. The proposed method is tested and validated on a multi-body vehicle simulator.     

Identification of the mechanical properties of bicycle tyres for modelling of bicycle dynamics

Advanced simulation of the stability and handling properties of bicycles requires detailed road–tyre contact models. In order to develop these models, in this study, four bicycle tyres are tested by means of a rotating disc machine with the aim of measuring the components of tyre forces and torques that influence the safety and handling of bicycles. The effect of inflation pressure and tyre load is analysed. The measured properties of bicycle tyres are compared with those of motorcycle tyres.     

轿车车身外部造型设计中有关技术问题的研究

在分析了大量轿车相关设计标准和资料的基础上,研究了在轿车外部造型设计中涉及到的主动安全性、被动安全性、空气动力性及乘座舒适性等技术性问题。特别就行人保护和碰撞后对车辆本身的损坏等被动安全性问题对轿车车身外部造型设计的要求,做了比较详细的讨论。     

The influence of suspension components friction on race car vertical dynamics

This work analyses the effect of friction in suspension components on a race car vertical dynamics. It is a matter of fact that race cars aim at maximising their performance, focusing the attention mostly on aerodynamics and suspension tuning: suspension vertical and rolling stiffness and damping are parameters to be taken into account for an optimal setup. Furthermore, friction in suspension components must not be ignored. After a test session carried out with a F4 on a Four Poster rig, friction was detected on the front suspension. The real data gathered allow the validation of an analytical model with friction, confirming that its influence is relevant for low frequency values closed to the car pitch natural frequency. Finally, some setup proposals are presented to describe what should be done on actual race cars in order to correct vehicle behaviour when friction occurs.     

Multi-Body Dynamics in Full-Vehicle Handling Analysis under Transient Manoeuvre

This paper presents a 94 degrees of freedom non-linear multi-body dynamics model of a vehicle comprising front and rear suspensions, steering system, road wheels, tyres and vehicle inertia. The model incorporates all sources of compliance: stiffness and damping, all with non-linear characteristics. The model is used for the purpose of vehicle handling analysis. A simulation run, pertaining to a double lane change is undertaken in-line with the ISO 3888 standard.     

Sideslip estimation for articulated heavy vehicles at the limits of adhesion*

Various active safety systems proposed for articulated heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) require an accurate estimate of vehicle sideslip angle. However in contrast to passenger cars, there has been minimal published research on sideslip estimation for articulated HGVs. State-of-the-art observers, which rely on linear vehicle models, perform poorly when manoeuvring near the limits of tyre adhesion. This paper investigates three nonlinear Kalman filters (KFs) for estimating the tractor sideslip angle of a tractor–semitrailer. These are compared to the current state-of-the-art, through computer simulations and vehicle test data. An unscented KF using a 5 degrees-of-freedom single-track vehicle model with linear adaptive tyres is found to substantially outperform the state-of-the-art linear KF across a range of test manoeuvres on different surfaces, both at constant speed and during emergency braking. Robustness of the observer to parameter uncertainty is also demonstrated.