Directional Dynamics of a Tractor-Loader-Backhoe

SUMMARY

This paper presents a study of the directional dynamics of large industrial tractors. These vehicles have special properties which make their dynamics interesting, including soft rear tires, large yaw moments of inertia and low or negative understeer gradients.

A linear yaw plane model was used for the analysis. The lateral compliance of the tires was included via a simplified version of the stretched-string model. Measurements were performed in support of the modeling effort, including inertial parameters, understeer gradient and transient response. A comparison between calculations and test results indicated that lateral compliance was an important influence on the transient response of these vehicles.     

On the handling performance of a vehicle with different front-to-rear wheel torque distributions

ABSTRACT

The handling characteristic is a classical topic of vehicle dynamics. Usually, vehicle handling is studied by analyzing the understeer coefficient in quasi-steady-state maneuvers. In this paper, experimental tests are performed on an electric vehicle with four independent motors, which is able to reproduce front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive (FWD, RWD and AWD, respectively) architectures. The handling characteristics of each architecture are inferred through classical and new concepts. The study presents a procedure to compute the longitudinal and lateral tire forces, which is based on a first estimate and a subsequent correction of the tire forces that guarantee the equilibrium. A yaw moment analysis is performed to identify the contributions of the longitudinal and lateral forces. The results show a good agreement between the classical and new formulations of the understeer coefficient, and allow to infer a relationship between the understeer coefficient and the yaw moment analysis. The handling characteristics vary with speed and front-to-rear wheel torque distribution. An apparently surprising result arises at low speed: the RWD architecture is the most understeering configuration. This is discussed by analyzing the yaw moment caused by the longitudinal forces of the front tires, which is significant for high values of lateral acceleration and steering angle.     

Full drive-by-wire dynamic control for four-wheel-steer all-wheel-drive vehicles

Most of the controllers introduced for four-wheel-steer (4WS) vehicles are derived with the assumption that the longitudinal speed of the vehicle is constant. However, in real applications, the longitudinal speed varies, and the longitudinal, lateral, and yaw dynamics are coupled. In this paper, the longitudinal dynamics of the vehicle as well as its lateral and yaw motions are controlled simultaneously. This way, the effect of driving/braking forces of the tires on the lateral and yaw motions of the vehicle are automatically included in the control laws. To address the dynamic parameter uncertainty of the vehicle, a chatter-free variable structure controller is introduced. Elimination of chatter is achieved by introducing a dynamically adaptive boundary layer thickness. It is shown via simulations that the proposed control approach performs more robustly than the controllers developed based on dynamic models, in which longitudinal speed is assumed to be constant, and only lateral speed and yaw rate are used as system states. Furthermore, this approach supports all-wheel-drive vehicles. Front-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive vehicles are also supported as special cases of an all-wheel-drive vehicle.     

How well a single-track linear model captures the lateral dynamics of long combination vehicles

ABSTRACT

The effect of centre-of-gravity heights on the high-speed performance measures of long combination vehicles including truck with double centre-axle trailers, Nordic, and A-double combination vehicles is investigated. The high fidelity three-dimensional models, used in this research, are validated against physical test data. These models are often accurate in terms of the actual dynamic behaviours of the vehicle. On the other hand, the simple yaw-plane single-track models with linear tires require less number of vehicle parameters. In this paper, it is investigated how accurate the estimations of performance measures are at high forward speeds by such single-track linear (STL) models. The influence of load height is especially studied. The high-speed performance-based standard or PBS measures considered are rearward amplifications of both lateral acceleration and yaw velocity; lateral load transfer; yaw damping and high-speed transient offtracking. The results show that tire relaxation has a large effect and it is rather easy to add to an STL model, so it is assumed to be modelled in STL. With realistically high payload and a required accuracy of PBS measures of approximately 10%, only the accuracy of rearward amplification of yaw velocity calculated by the frequency response is fulfilled by the STL. With low payload, the same statement is valid, but with around 5% in required accuracy. The roll dynamics effects are more important than the tire non-linearities.     

Optimal Control of Four Wheel Steering Vehicle

This paper derives a method of controlling four wheel steering using optimal control theory. The purpose of control is to minimize the sideslip angle at the center of gravity. The control method feeds forward the steering wheel angle and feeds back the yaw velocity and the sideslip angle to the front and rear wheel angles. Theoretical studies show that the sideslip angle is reduced to zero even in the transient state, and that the understeer characteristic and frequency response can be changed regardless of the vehicle static margin. This Paper also examines various characteristics of the influence of the side force nonlinearities of tires and crosswinds.     

Optimal Control of Four Wheel Steering Vehicle

SUMMARY

This paper derives a method of controlling four wheel steering using optimal control theory. The purpose of control is to minimize the sideslip angle at the center of gravity. The control method feeds forward the steering wheel angle and feeds back the yaw velocity and the sideslip angle to the front and rear wheel angles. Theoretical studies show that the sideslip angle is reduced to zero even in the transient state, and that the understeer characteristic and frequency response can be changed regardless of the vehicle static margin. This Paper also examines various characteristics of the influence of the side force nonlinearities of tires and crosswinds.     

A new formulation of the understeer coefficient to relate yaw torque and vehicle handling

The handling behaviour of vehicles is an important property for its relation to performance and safety. In 1970s, Pacejka did the groundwork for an objective analysis introducing the handling diagram and the understeer coefficient. In more recent years, the understeer concept is still mentioned but the handling is actively managed by direct yaw control (DYC). In this paper an accurate analysis of the vehicle handling is carried out, considering also the effect of drive forces. This analysis brings to a new formulation of the understeer coefficient, which is almost equivalent to the classical one, but it can be obtained by quasi-steady-state manoeuvres. In addition, it relates the vehicle yaw torque to the understeer coefficient, filling up the gap between the classical handling approach and DYC. A multibody model of a Formula SAE car is then used to perform quasi-steady-state simulations in order to verify the effectiveness of the new formulation. Some vehicle set-ups and wheel drive arrangements are simulated and the results are discussed. In particular, the handling behaviours of the rear wheel drive (RWD) and the front wheel drive (FWD) architectures are compared, finding an apparently surprising result: for the analysed vehicle the FWD is less understeering than for RWD. The relation between the yaw torque and the understeer coefficient allows to understand this behaviour and opens-up the possibility for different yaw control strategies.     

Steady State Steering Response

The yaw rate response for a two-degree-of-freedom car model requires a family of curves for different degrees of oversteer or understeer. By use of non-dimensional co-ordinates this family is reduced to one single curve. The ordinate ρ is the ratio of yaw rate response to that of a neutral steering car at the same speed and is less than 1 for understeer and greater than 1 for oversteer. Since ρ is also the ratio of the side-slip angle response it is hence, a unique measure of the steady-state steering characteristics.     

非满载液罐半挂汽车列车侧向耦合动力学模型

为方便液罐半挂汽车列车（Tractor Semi-trailer Tank Vehicle,TSTTV）罐-车整体的优化设计匹配,综合提高整车的侧倾稳定性、侧向动力学稳定性及操纵特性,基于Lagrange方法和椭圆规摆等效机械液体晃动模型建立TSTTV的整车侧向耦合动力学模型,其典型特征是实现罐内液体侧向晃动与车辆横摆运动、侧向运动、悬挂质量的侧倾运动及非线性侧向轮胎力的集成一体化建模,贯通液体晃动动力学与车辆侧向动力学稳定性之间的联系。通过开环正弦停滞转向输入操作响应对所建立的模型进行分析评价,考察车辆横摆角速度、质心侧偏角、侧倾角、侧向载荷转移率及液体晃动角等状态量在2种充液比（F_L=40%,80%）及2种罐体椭圆率（Δ=1.0,1.3）下的响应。研究结果表明：所建立的TSTTV模型可以实现液体侧向晃动作用下的车辆侧向耦合动力学仿真分析,能够反映充液比、罐体截面椭圆率等运输条件和罐体几何参数对整车侧倾稳定性、侧向动力学稳定性及操纵特性的影响;基于该模型可以针对液体介质、充液比及道路环境等运输条件因素的影响,研究以提高整车侧向动力学稳定性为目标的TSTTV灌-车整体的优化设计匹配问题,这对提升液罐车的设计性能、提高行驶的安全性和运输效率具有重要意义。     

Asymptotic sideslip angle and yaw rate decoupling control in four-wheel steering vehicles

This paper shows that, for a four-wheel steering vehicle, a proportional-integral (PI) active front steering control and a PI active rear steering control from the yaw rate error together with an additive feedforward reference signal for the vehicle sideslip angle can asymptotically decouple the lateral velocity and the yaw rate dynamics; that is the control can set arbitrary steady state values for lateral speed and yaw rate at any longitudinal speed. Moreover, the PI controls can suppress oscillatory behaviours by assigning real stable eigenvalues to a widely used linearised model of the vehicle steering dynamics for any value of longitudinal speed in understeering vehicles. In particular, the four PI control parameters are explicitly expressed in terms of the three real eigenvalues to be assigned. No lateral acceleration and no lateral speed measurements are required. The controlled system maintains the well-known advantages of both front and rear active steering controls: higher controllability, enlarged bandwidth for the yaw rate dynamics, suppressed resonances, new stable cornering manoeuvres and improved manoeuvrability. In particular, zero lateral speed may be asymptotically achieved while controlling the yaw rate: in this case comfort is improved since the phase lag between lateral acceleration and yaw rate is reduced. Also zero yaw rate can be asymptotically achieved: in this case additional stable manoeuvres are obtained in obstacle avoidance. Several simulations, including step references and moose tests, are carried out on a standard small SUV CarSim model to explore the robustness with respect to unmodelled effects such as combined lateral and longitudinal tyre forces, pitch, roll and driver dynamics. The simulations confirm the decoupling between the lateral velocity and the yaw rate and show the advantages obtained by the proposed control: reduced lateral speed or reduced yaw rate, suppressed oscillations and new stable manoeuvres.     

智能汽车轨迹跟踪与横摆稳定性协同控制

为了提高四轮独立驱动智能电动汽车在变曲率弯道下的轨迹跟踪精度和横摆稳定性,提出了一种模型预测控制与直接横摆力矩控制协同的综合控制方法。建立了横纵向耦合的车辆动力学模型,采用2阶龙格库塔离散法保证了离散模型的精度,并基于简化的2自由度动力学模型推导了车辆横摆稳定性约束,设计了非线性模型预测控制器;利用直接横摆力矩控制能够改变车辆横摆角速度和航向角的特点,考虑模型预测控制器的预测状态、控制量以及跟踪误差,设计了协同控制规则。仿真结果表明,协同控制方法解决了考虑横摆稳定性约束的模型预测控制器中存在的稳定性约束与控制精度相矛盾的问题,并补偿了模型预测控制器没有可行解时对横摆稳定性的约束,同时提高了智能汽车的轨迹跟踪精度和横摆稳定性。     

A methodology for vehicle sideslip angle identification: comparison with experimental data

Sideslip angle could provide important information concerning vehicle's stability. Unfortunately direct measurement of sideslip angle requires a complex and expensive experimental set-up, which is not suitable for implementation on ordinary passenger cars; thus, this quantity has to be estimated starting from the measurements of vehicle lateral/longitudinal acceleration, speed, yaw rate and steer angle. According to the proposed methodology, sideslip angle is estimated as a weighted mean of the results provided by a kinematic formulation and those obtained through a state observer based on vehicle single-track model. Kinematical formula is considered reliable for a transient manoeuvre, while the state observer is used in nearly quasi-state condition. The basic idea of the work is to make use of the information provided by the kinematic formulation during a transient manoeuvre to update the single-track model parameters (tires cornering stiffnesses). A fuzzy-logic procedure was implemented to identify steady state or transient conditions.     

Effect of handling characteristics on minimum time cornering with torque vectoring

In this paper, the effect of both passive and actively-modified vehicle handling characteristics on minimum time manoeuvring for vehicles with 4-wheel torque vectoring (TV) capability is studied. First, a baseline optimal TV strategy is sought, independent of any causal control law. An optimal control problem (OCP) is initially formulated considering 4 independent wheel torque inputs, together with the steering angle rate, as the control variables. Using this formulation, the performance benefit using TV against an electric drive train with a fixed torque distribution, is demonstrated. The sensitivity of TV-controlled manoeuvre time to the passive understeer gradient of the vehicle is then studied. A second formulation of the OCP is introduced where a closed-loop TV controller is incorporated into the system dynamics of the OCP. This formulation allows the effect of actively modifying a vehicle's handling characteristic via TV on its minimum time cornering performance of the vehicle to be assessed. In particular, the effect of the target understeer gradient as the key tuning parameter of the literature-standard steady-state linear single-track model yaw rate reference is analysed.     

基于ADAMS-Car的汽车建模与仿真研究

为了有效应用多体动力学软件ADAMS/Car进行车辆动力学研究,介绍并建立了包括汽车底盘、车身、转向、前后悬架、轮胎、动力总成等分系统的汽车整车模型,将整车系统简化为单自由度的质量-刚度-阻尼系统,建立微分方程,分别应用Matlab/Simulink和ADAMS/Car两种仿真方法,对整车模型进行了正弦激励输入下的仿真,比较计算结果可知达到稳态后的车身响应曲线非常吻合。研究表明:基于ADAMS/Car建立的整车多体动力学模型准确,可以用于实际车辆的仿真研究。     

Lateral Stability of Towed Flexible Vehicles

The highway transport of mobile homes is a matter of concern for the increasingly safety-minded driving public. The low speeds of towed vehicles necessary to maintain stability, together with the requirements for excessive lane widths due to clearance for the lateral motion, result in increased likelihood of traffic accidents, impeded traffic flow, and reduced highway capacity. A safe increase in the stable cruising speed, coupled with a decreased amplitude in the pendular motion helps alleviate all three of the aforementioned problems. Energy input at hitch point and lateral forces between the road and tires permit lateral vehicular motions, which occur above a critical speed, to increase in amplitude until possibly a limit cycle or instability is reached. One would expect that structural dynamics could have a pronounced influence on the lateral response of towed vehicles with large and relatively flexible chassis, such as mobile homes. The objective of this research is to determine the influence of chassis structural parameters on the lateral stability of towed flexible bodies during transport. The mass of the towing vehicle is assumed infinitely large, thus eliminating any dynamic interconnection between the towing and towed vehicles. The assumed modes method is used to describe the lateral deflection of the flexible towed vehicle. Results of the study of this model indicate that increase in structural rigidity of towed vehicle increases the critical towing speed whereas increase in the tire cornering coefficient reduces the safe towing speed, which is true only for this simplified model where the dynamic interaction with the towing vehicle is not included.     

A methodology for vehicle sideslip angle identification: comparison with experimental data

Sideslip angle could provide important information concerning vehicle's stability. Unfortunately direct measurement of sideslip angle requires a complex and expensive experimental set-up, which is not suitable for implementation on ordinary passenger cars; thus, this quantity has to be estimated starting from the measurements of vehicle lateral/longitudinal acceleration, speed, yaw rate and steer angle. According to the proposed methodology, sideslip angle is estimated as a weighted mean of the results provided by a kinematic formulation and those obtained through a state observer based on vehicle single-track model. Kinematical formula is considered reliable for a transient manoeuvre, while the state observer is used in nearly quasi-state condition. The basic idea of the work is to make use of the information provided by the kinematic formulation during a transient manoeuvre to update the single-track model parameters (tires cornering stiffnesses). A fuzzy-logic procedure was implemented to identify steady state or transient conditions.     

基于自适应模型预测的智能汽车横向轨迹跟踪控制

当路面附着情况和车辆行驶状态不断变化时,基于恒定侧偏刚度的模型预测控制(MPC)不能考虑轮胎非线性特性的影响,难以保证车辆轨迹跟踪的适应性。为此,提出一种考虑轮胎侧向力计算误差的自适应模型预测控制(AMPC),以提高智能汽车在不确定工况下的轨迹跟踪性能。分析了路面附着系数和垂向载荷对轮胎侧向力的影响,基于平方根容积卡尔曼滤波(SCKF)算法,设计了利用侧向加速度和横摆角速度作为测量变量的前后轮胎侧向力估计器。利用轮胎侧向力线性计算值与估计值的差值计算得到侧偏刚度修正因子,设计了前后轮胎侧偏刚度的自适应修正准则,进而提出了一种基于时变修正刚度的AMPC控制方法。基于CarSim与MATLAB/Simulink联合仿真和硬件在环测试平台,对AMPC控制的有效性和实时性进行了验证。研究结果表明：在不同的路面附着情况和车辆行驶状态下,AMPC控制都能够降低横向位置偏差和航向角偏差,有效提高车辆的轨迹跟踪精度,其控制效果明显优于基于恒定侧偏刚度的标准MPC控制。尤其在低附着工况下,标准MPC控制会因为线性轮胎力的计算误差过大而导致车辆在轨迹跟踪时严重失稳,而AMPC控制通过估计轮胎力修正侧偏刚度依然能够保证车辆稳定有效的跟踪参考轨迹。所提出的AMPC控制在保证控制精度的同时具有良好的实时性,对智能汽车控制系统的设计与优化具有重要参考价值。     

An Investigation of High-Speed Automobile Steering Response

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.     

Modeling and control of an anti-lock brake and steering system for cooperative control on split-mu surfaces

The brake and steering systems in vehicles are the most effective actuators that directly affect the vehicle dynamics. In general, the brake system affects the longitudinal dynamics and the steering system affects the lateral dynamics; however, their effects are coupled when the vehicle is braking on a non-homogenous surface, such as a split-mu road. The yaw moment compensation of the steering control on a split-mu road is one of the basic functions of integrated or coordinated chassis control systems and has been demonstrated by several chassis suppliers. However, the disturbance yaw moment is generally compensated for using the yaw rate feedback or using wheel brake pressure measurement. Access to the wheel brake pressure through physical sensors is not cost effective; therefore, we modeled the hydraulic brake system to avoid using physical sensors and to estimate the brake pressure. The steering angle controller was designed to mitigate the non-symmetric braking force effect and to stabilize the yaw rate dynamics of the vehicle. An H-infinity design synthesis was used to take the system model and the estimation errors into account, and the designed controller was evaluated using vehicle tests.     

Active Roll Control of Articulated Vehicles

This paper describes an investigation into active roll control of articulated vehicles. The objective is to minimise lateral load transfer using anti-roll bars incorporating low bandwidth hydraulic actuators. Results from handling tests performed on an articulated vehicle are used to validate a nonlinear yaw/roll model of the vehicle. The methodology used to design lateral acceleration controllers for vehicles equipped with active anti-roll bars is developed using a simplified linear articulated vehicle model. The hardware limitations and power consumption requirements of the active elements are studied. The controller is then implemented in the validated articulated vehicle model to evaluate the performance of an articulated lorry with active anti-roll bars. The simulation results demonstrate the possibility of a significant improvement in transient roll performance of the vehicle, using a relatively low power system (10 kW), with low bandwidth actuators (5 Hz).