Customer loads of two-wheeled vehicles

Customer usage profiles are the most unknown influences in vehicle design targets and they play an important role in durability analysis. This publication presents a customer load acquisition system for two-wheeled vehicles that utilises the vehicle's onboard signals. A road slope estimator was developed to reveal the unknown slope resistance force with the help of a linear Kalman filter. Furthermore, an automated mass estimator was developed to consider the correct vehicle loading. The mass estimation is performed by an extended Kalman filter. Finally, a model-based wheel force calculation was derived, which is based on the superposition of forces calculated from measured onboard signals. The calculated wheel forces were validated by measurements with wheel–load transducers through the comparison of rainflow matrices. The calculated wheel forces correspond with the measured wheel forces in terms of both quality and quantity. The proposed methods can be used to gather field data for improved vehicle design loads.     

A stochastic quarter-car model for dynamic analysis of vehicles with uncertain parameters

A quarter-car model is used to investigate the vibration response of cars with uncertainty under random road input excitations in this paper. The sprung mass, unsprung mass, suspension damping, suspension stiffness, and tyre stiffness are considered as random variables. The road irregularity is considered a Gaussian random process and modelled by means of a simple exponential power spectral density. The power spectral density, mean value, standard deviation, and variation coefficient of the vehicle's natural frequencies and mode shapes are obtained by using the Monte Carlo simulation method. The computational expressions for the numerical characteristics of the mean square value of the vehicle's random response in the frequency domain are developed by means of the random variable's functional moment method. The influences of the randomness of the vehicle's parameters on the vehicle's dynamic response are investigated in detail using a practical example, and some useful conclusions are obtained.     

Frequency-domain method for evaluating the ride comfort of a motorcycle

In many European towns, the demand for fast and efficient mobility is frequently satisfied by means of two-wheeled vehicles. The improvement of comfort of two-wheeled vehicles used by tired and busy workers can increase safety in ground transport. Nowadays, multibody codes make it possible to predict the ride comfort of two-wheeled vehicles by means of time-domain or frequency-domain simulations. Comfort indices can be developed by post-processing the results of numerical simulations. This task is difficult, because the indices should depend on vehicle characteristics and should be independent of road quality and vehicle speed. Poor quality roads may generate nonlinear effects. Speed influences the trim of the vehicle and the wheelbase filtering, which takes place because the same road unevenness excites the front and rear wheel with a time delay which depends on the vehicle’s speed.

In this paper, the comfort of two-wheeled vehicles is studied by means of a frequency-domain approach. The wheelbase filtering is averaged considering typical missions of the vehicle. The missions are journeys with a forward speed that assumes different values according to a probability density function. Indices of comfort are calculated taking into account the human sensitivity. The examples show that the proposed comfort indices depend on suspensions’ characteristics and, hence, are useful design tools. Finally, some time-domain calculations are carried out to give emphasis to nonlinear effects and to show the limits of the frequency-domain analysis.     

Estimating the ride quality characteristics of vehicles with random decrement analysis of on-the-road vibration response data

This paper describes the application of a practical analytical technique based on the random decrement method to estimate the rigid sprung mass dynamic characteristics (frequency response function) of road vehicles using only vibration response data during constant-speed operation. A brief history and development of the random decrement technique is presented, along with a summary of work undertaken on optimal parameter selection to establish the random decrement signature. Two approaches to estimate the dynamic characteristics from the random decrement signature are described and evaluated. A custom, single-wheeled vehicle (physical quarter car) was commissioned to undertake a series of on-the-road experiments at various nominally constant operating speeds. The vehicle, also instrumented as an inertial profilometer, simultaneously measured the longitudinal pavement profile to establish the vehicle's actual dynamic characteristics during operation. The main outcome of the paper is that the random decrement technique can be used to provide accurate estimates of the sprung mass mode of the vehicle's dynamic characteristics for both linear and nonlinear suspension systems of an idealised vehicle.     

基于无限长梁模型的车路振动耦合系统半解析解

针对无限长道路与车辆耦合系统响应计算复杂难题,考虑地基的弹性特性与道路不平度,建立基于无限长欧拉-伯努利梁模型的车路振动耦合系统。进而以车辆为参考点建立移动坐标系,提出通过积分变换推导耦合系统振动响应解析解的方法,并应用留数定理对其进行数值计算,获得车辆垂向位移、加速度、路面振动响应等系统响应的半解析解。与传统应用模态叠加法的有限长道路与车辆耦合响应相比,具有更高的计算效率与精度,系统参数化研究也证明了该半解析解的有效性。     

Frequency-domain method for evaluating the ride comfort of a motorcycle

In many European towns, the demand for fast and efficient mobility is frequently satisfied by means of two-wheeled vehicles. The improvement of comfort of two-wheeled vehicles used by tired and busy workers can increase safety in ground transport. Nowadays, multibody codes make it possible to predict the ride comfort of two-wheeled vehicles by means of time-domain or frequency-domain simulations. Comfort indices can be developed by post-processing the results of numerical simulations. This task is difficult, because the indices should depend on vehicle characteristics and should be independent of road quality and vehicle speed. Poor quality roads may generate nonlinear effects. Speed influences the trim of the vehicle and the wheelbase filtering, which takes place because the same road unevenness excites the front and rear wheel with a time delay which depends on the vehicle's speed.

In this paper, the comfort of two-wheeled vehicles is studied by means of a frequency-domain approach. The wheelbase filtering is averaged considering typical missions of the vehicle. The missions are journeys with a forward speed that assumes different values according to a probability density function. Indices of comfort are calculated taking into account the human sensitivity. The examples show that the proposed comfort indices depend on suspensions' characteristics and, hence, are useful design tools. Finally, some time-domain calculations are carried out to give emphasis to nonlinear effects and to show the limits of the frequency-domain analysis.     

Estimation of the vehicle's centre of gravity based on a braking model

A vehicle's centre of gravity (CG) is an important property that affects the vehicle's handing stability, ride comfort and safety. For example, a high CG may lead to a serious traffic accident due to the adverse effects it may have on roll and handling stability. In this paper, we develop a dynamic detection method to obtain vehicle's height that uses a simulation model based on a dynamic analysis during braking. Simulations show that the dynamic detection method is feasible. Experiments with three different vehicles are performed to verify the proposed method. The previously established prediction detection and lifting detection (LD) methods are used for comparison. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has higher accuracy and efficiency than the LD method. Thus, the proposed method is useful for the vehicle detection.     

Vehicle Modelling Aspects for an Embedded Real-Time Application

SUMMARY

In this paper we present results obtained for a driving advice system developed, within the framework of the Prometheus program. The main results concern the vehicle modelling, which is required for the evaluation of the vehicle's dynamic behaviour in real-time, and the safety parameters considered and developed in order to evaluate the vehicle's safety state. The demonstrator is briefly presented, together with the results.     

Developing a safer road user behaviour index

Road user behaviour is an essential factor of increasing the rate of traffic accidents worldwide. Road safety experts and scientists consider aspects of road users' behaviour to be the main risk factors for road fatalities. These factors include drinking alcohol, speeding, not wearing seat belts, not wearing helmets when riding two-wheeled vehicles, not using child restraints, consuming illegal drugs, and being distracted by mobile phone use. This paper aims to investigate the role of these factors in assessing the road user behaviour through aggregating them and build a composite indicator that can be used in countries benchmarking and cross countries comparison, then identifying most successful practises. To achieve this aim, data related to the selected indicators, life-saving rate, and real crash data were collected. The indicators were weighted using simple and theoretical methods. The weighted indicators were aggregated using simple additive method. The developed index was applied to 12 European countries to test the validation of the index through investigation the correlation between index’ ranking of countries with the ranking according to the rate of fatalities. It is concluded that the developed composite indicator can be used to assess the role of using the protection system and speeding in the severity of the road crashes. However, the role of the remaining factors in the likelihood of crashes occurrence needs more investigation. It can be concluded also that the road users' behaviour is not the only factor of reducing the road fatalities in some countries. This enhances the multidimensional system approach of defining the road safety. Based on this, it is recommended to consider other factors in conducting research, developing indices of road safety, and in recommending solutions. The results show also that the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Ireland have the most successful strategies to improve the road user behaviour among the selected countries; therefore, it is recommended to take lessons from these practices.     

A vehicle ABS adaptive sliding-mode control algorithm based on the vehicle velocity estimation and tyre/road friction coefficient estimations

A sliding-mode observer is designed to estimate the vehicle velocity with the measured vehicle acceleration, the wheel speeds and the braking torques. Based on the Burckhardt tyre model, the extended Kalman filter is designed to estimate the parameters of the Burckhardt model with the estimated vehicle velocity, the measured wheel speeds and the vehicle acceleration. According to the estimated parameters of the Burckhardt tyre model, the tyre/road friction coefficients and the optimal slip ratios are calculated. A vehicle adaptive sliding-mode control (SMC) algorithm is presented with the estimated vehicle velocity, the tyre/road friction coefficients and the optimal slip ratios. And the adjustment method of the sliding-mode gain factors is discussed. Based on the adaptive SMC algorithm, a vehicle's antilock braking system (ABS) control system model is built with the Simulink Toolbox. Under the single-road condition as well as the different road conditions, the performance of the vehicle ABS system is simulated with the vehicle velocity observer, the tyre/road friction coefficient estimator and the adaptive SMC algorithm. The results indicate that the estimated errors of the vehicle velocity and the tyre/road friction coefficients are acceptable and the vehicle ABS adaptive SMC algorithm is effective. So the proposed adaptive SMC algorithm can be used to control the vehicle ABS without the information of the vehicle velocity and the road conditions.     

汽车风洞双车试验来流湍流特征研究

基于自主研发的真实道路来流参数测量系统,对多地区、多场景真实道路行驶来流湍流强度进行了测试,发现车辆道路行驶时来流湍流强度远高于风洞水平,道路平均湍流强度为4%,沿海地区湍流强度最高可达20%,在跟车或超车时湍流强度可达 28%。在汽车风洞内模拟了道路行驶跟车、超车等试验场景,对测试车辆气流环境进行了采集分析。结果表明,跟车和超车时,后车来流湍流强度较高且伴随有速度损失,湍流强度及速度损失大小与前车尺寸和跟车距离有关,湍流强度分布范围为2%～33%,与道路实测相当,且速度损失最大为19%。进一步探究了前车放置角度、风洞风速对后车来流湍流强度的影响规律,建立对后车来流湍流强度定量调节的方法。完成了双车风噪测试,结果表明,风洞内高湍流强度环境车内风噪测试调制频谱结果与道路行驶测试结果相符,车内风噪频谱曲线差异主要集中在小于70 Hz的低频段。     

车路协同条件下智能网联汽车一体化决策模型

为了探索当前有限数据条件下面临的无限交通场景问题,提出车路协同条件下基于深度强化学习智能网联汽车决策模型。利用Actor-Critic机制,以highway-env为数据来源,抽取144 h交通数据作为训练数据并进行验证,分析了智能网联汽车在不同车道数条件下的驾驶行为。结果显示,本模型汽车行程时间减少20%以上,碰撞概率减少25%以上,换道轨迹可以通过动力学跟踪。     

Modeling Human Vehicle Driving by Model Predictive Online Optimization

A driver model is designed which relates the driver's action to his perception, driving experience, and preferences over a wide range of possible traffic situations. The basic idea behind the work is that the human uses his sensory perception and his expert knowledge to predict the vehicle's future behavior for the next few seconds (prediction model). At a certain sampling rate the vehicle's future motion is optimized using this prediction model, in order to meet certain objectives. The human tries to follow this optimal behavior using a compensatory controller. Based on this hypothesis, human vehicle driving is modeled by a hierarchical controller. A repetitive nonlinear optimization is employed to plan the vehicle's future motion (trajectory planning task), using an SQP algorithm. This is combined with a PID tracking control to minimize its deviations. The trajectory planning scheme is experimentally verified for undisturbed driving situations employing various objectives, namely ride comfort, lane keeping, and minimized speed variation. The driver model is then applied to study path planning during curve negotiation under various preferences. A highly dynamic avoidance maneuver (standardized ISO double lane change) is then simulated to investigate the overall stability of the closed loop vehicle/driver system.     

Comparison between different sets of suspension parameters and introduction of new modified skyhook control strategy incorporating varying road condition

This study examines the uncertainties in modelling a quarter car suspension system caused by the effect of different sets of suspension parameters of a corresponding mathematical model. To overcome this problem, 11 sets of identified parameters of a suspension system have been compared, taken from the most recent published work. From this investigation, a set of parameters were chosen which showed a better performance than others in respect of peak amplitude and settling time. These chosen parameters were then used to investigate the performance of a new modified continuous skyhook control strategy with adaptive gain that dictates the vehicle's semi-active suspension system. The proposed system first captures the road profile input over a certain period. Then it calculates the best possible value of the skyhook gain (SG) for the subsequent process. Meanwhile the system is controlled according to the new modified skyhook control law using an initial or previous value of the SG. In this study, the proposed suspension system is compared with passive and other recently reported skyhook controlled semi-active suspension systems. Its performances have been evaluated in terms of ride comfort and road handling performance. The model has been validated in accordance with the international standards of admissible acceleration levels ISO2631 and human vibration perception.     

Linear matrix inequality based control of vehicle active suspension system

Linear matrix inequality (LMI) methods, novel techniques in solving optimisation problems, were introduced as a unified approach for vehicle's active suspension system controller design. LMI methods were used to provide improved and computationally efficient controller design techniques. The active suspension problem was formulated as a standard convex optimisation problem involving LMI constraints that can be solved efficiently using recently developed interior point optimisation methods. An LMI based controller for a vehicle system was developed. The controller design process involved setting up an optimisation problem with matrix inequality constraints. These LMI constraints were derived for a vehicle suspension system. The resulting LMI controller was then tested on a quarter-car model using computer simulations. The LMI controller results were compared with an optimal PID controller design solution. The LMI controller was further tested by incorporating a nonlinear term in the vehicle's suspension model; the LMI's controller degraded response was enhanced by using gain-scheduling techniques. The LMI controller with gain-scheduling gave good results in spite of the unmodelled dynamics in the suspension system, which was triggered by large deflections due to off-road driving.     

On model-based longitudinal feed-forward motion control for low velocities on known road profiles

ABSTRACT

So far, longitudinal motion control has focused on situations like highway driving, where disturbances of the road profile can be neglected. In this paper, we show how the Two Point Tire Model can be used to derive a novel feed-forward control law for a vehicle's longitudinal motion that considers the effects of the road profile and can complement existing control approaches. For this purpose, we recapitulate the basic model assumptions and equations and briefly discuss how it can be used on arbitrary road profiles. Two approaches for implementation in a real vehicle are presented. Comparisons of these approaches in simulation and to a human driver of an experimental vehicle show that the controller can deal with stepped obstacles of up to 14?cm in height. However, the control performance is essentially limited by the actuator delay and human drivers outperform the controller due to their ability of sensing subtle vehicle motions. The results indicate that the control performance can be further improved by using a preview on the necessary drive torque, which can be provided by the solution that we propose.     

An Investigation of High-Speed Automobile Steering Response

SUMMARY

The significance of the effects of steering compliance and aerodynamic life on high speed automobile's steering response was investigated on two vehicles, a Ford Falcon XW (1969) station-wagon and a GM-Holden Kingswood HQ (1974) sedan. An aerofoil was mounted above the front bumper bar of the Ford Falcon to enable the simulation of vehicles with very degraded aerodynamic characteristics. Mathematical analysis showed the importance of the inclusion of steering compliance effects in determining stability factor, and hence the vehicle's high speed yaw rate sensitivity. Both experiments and theory showed that the actual high speed yaw rate response is not significantly less than that predicted from a low speed skid pad test, however, slight errors were found which are likely to be due to steering system nonlinearity and the effects of aerodynamic lift.     

交通宁静化理念下公交站点处两轮车专用道一体化设计

两轮自行车、电动自行车和摩托车专用道一体化的改造方案是为解决城市中心摩托车和非机动车争夺路权带来的交通问题的一种探索和尝试。专用道的设置不可避免也要对公交车站进行改造，交通比较复杂。为有序引导站点处的交通流，保障乘客安全，首先介绍了路段两轮自行车、电动自行车和摩托车专用道一体化方案的改造原因和思路，然后结合城市交通宁静化理念，对直线式停靠站和港湾式停靠站处的专用道提出了几种设计方案，并分析其优缺点和用地条件。经过对比，推荐公交站点处采用曲线式两轮车专用道设计方案，最后还配套了一些交通宁静化措施。     

面向全矢量线控车辆极限运动的分层式协同控制

装配四轮分布式驱动-转向（4WID-4WIS）底盘的全矢量线控车辆具备多可控自由度、高速稳定性强的特点,是极限工况稳定裕度和安全性较高的理想车型。为了解决全矢量线控车辆在极限工况下纵横向控制冲突危害行车安全的问题,提出一种基于模型预测控制 （MPC） 的分层式车辆纵向和横向运动协同控制方法。建立基于单轨模型的期望运动状态识别方法,设计模型预测控制器转换动力学目标,采用泰勒展开和前向欧拉方法对预测模型进行线性离散化处理;设计基于负荷率的轮胎力优化分配方法,利用反正切轮胎逆模型求解控制执行量。仿真结果表明,协同控制方法能显著提高车辆在不同路面下的极限运动稳定性,更精准地跟踪期望运动状态,扩大稳定裕度,保障行车安全。     

基于微分几何的四轮独立驱动车辆运动解耦控制研究

针对车辆在纵向运动和横摆运动时的强耦合关系给车辆动力学控制带来的困难，以四轮独立电驱动车辆作为研究对象，基于微分几何理论设计了车辆系统运动解耦控制方法，将非线性强耦合的四轮驱动车辆动力学系统解耦为纵向和横向两个相对独立运动控制子系统，并设计了鲁棒控制器，以提高抵抗车辆行驶时不确定外力如侧风的干扰能力。基于 Trucksim 软件建立四轮驱动车辆模型，并针对车辆解耦控制策略和抗干扰策略进行了仿真测试。结果表明，相比于无解耦控制的车辆，采用微分几何解耦控制的四轮独立驱动车辆纵向速度偏差降低了 82.1%，横摆角速度偏差降低了80.7%，且微风干扰下的抗干扰能力明显改善，车辆稳定性显著提升。为验证该运动解耦控制策略在实时系统中的控制效果，还进行了硬件在环试验，结果表明，硬件在环试验的结果与仿真结果一致。