On the equivalent wheelbase of a three-axle vehicle

The steady-state handling properties of a rigid vehicle with a tandem rear axle configuration are developed. This work uses conventions resulting in a parsimonious characterisation of steady-state handling of such three-axle vehicles that is shown to be a simple extension of the well-known two-axle bicycle model. Specifically the concepts of understeer and wheelbase are developed for a three-axle vehicle, and shown to play the same role in characterising vehicle handling as they do in the well-known two-axle vehicle model. An equivalent wheelbase of a three-axle vehicle is expressed in terms of vehicle geometry and cornering stiffness of each axle. The model developed in this work is reconciled with previous models that make use of simplifying assumptions found in the literature.     

基于截面力设定的纵梁轻量化半经验设计

采用半经验方法,通过分析同级对标车型的纵梁各断面通过力,获得了纵梁通过力的设计目标;根据本文提出的薄壁管梁压溃力公式,反推出纵梁所采用的尺寸、材料;根据结构轻量化原则,在概念设计阶段确定了纵梁的最优设计参数。通过对碰撞加速度、吸能盒、纵梁的试验与仿真结果对比可知,本文所提设计方法合理有效。     

Evolution of latent modal captivity and mode choice patterns for commuting trips: A longitudinal analysis using repeated cross-sectional datasets

This paper presents an investigation of the temporal evolution of commuting mode choice preference structures. It contributes to two specific modelling issues: latent modal captivity and working with multiple repeated crossectional datasets. In this paper latent modal captivity refers to captive reliance on a specific mode rather than all feasible modes. Three household travel survey datasets collected in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) over a ten-year time period are used for empirical modelling. Datasets collected in different years are pooled and separate year-specific scale parameters and coefficients of key variables are estimated for different years. The empirical model clearly explains that there have been significant changes in latent modal captivity and the mode choice preference structures for commuting in the GTHA. Changes have occurred in the unexplained component of latent captivities, in transportation cost perceptions, and in the scales of commuting mode choice preferences. The empirical model also demonstrates that pooling multiple repeated cross-sectional datasets is an efficient way of capturing behavioural changes over time. Application of the proposed mode choice model for practical policy analysis and forecasting will ensure accurate forecasting and an enhanced understanding of policy impacts.     

Design of safety-oriented control allocation strategies for overactuated electric vehicles

The new vehicle platforms for electric vehicles (EVs) that are becoming available are characterised by actuator redundancy, which makes it possible to jointly optimise different aspects of the vehicle motion. To do this, high-level control objectives are first specified and solved with appropriate control strategies. Then, the resulting virtual control action must be translated into actual actuator commands by a control allocation layer that takes care of computing the forces to be applied at the wheels. This step, in general, is quite demanding as far as computational complexity is considered. In this work, a safety-oriented approach to this problem is proposed. Specifically, a four-wheel steer EV with four in-wheel motors is considered, and the high-level motion controller is designed within a sliding mode framework with conditional integrators. For distributing the forces among the tyres, two control allocation approaches are investigated. The first, based on the extension of the cascading generalised inverse method, is computationally efficient but shows some limitations in dealing with unfeasible force values. To solve the problem, a second allocation algorithm is proposed, which relies on the linearisation of the tyre–road friction constraints. Extensive tests, carried out in the CarSim simulation environment, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Optimisation of lateral car dynamics taking into account parameter uncertainties

Simulation studies on an active all-wheel-steering car show that disturbance of vehicle parameters have high influence on lateral car dynamics. This motivates the need of robust design against such parameter uncertainties. A specific parametrisation is established combining deterministic, velocity-dependent steering control parameters with partly uncertain, velocity-independent vehicle parameters for simultaneous use in a numerical optimisation process. Model-based objectives are formulated and summarised in a multi-objective optimisation problem where especially the lateral steady-state behaviour is improved by an adaption strategy based on measurable uncertainties. The normally distributed uncertainties are generated by optimal Latin hypercube sampling and a response surface based strategy helps to cut down time consuming model evaluations which offers the possibility to use a genetic optimisation algorithm. Optimisation results are discussed in different criterion spaces and the achieved improvements confirm the validity of the proposed procedure.     

Fault classification method for the driving safety of electrified vehicles

A fault classification method is proposed which has been applied to an electric vehicle. Potential faults in the different subsystems that can affect the vehicle directional stability were collected in a failure mode and effect analysis. Similar driveline faults were grouped together if they resembled each other with respect to their influence on the vehicle dynamic behaviour. The faults were physically modelled in a simulation environment before they were induced in a detailed vehicle model under normal driving conditions. A special focus was placed on faults in the driveline of electric vehicles employing in-wheel motors of the permanent magnet type. Several failures caused by mechanical and other faults were analysed as well. The fault classification method consists of a controllability ranking developed according to the functional safety standard ISO 26262. The controllability of a fault was determined with three parameters covering the influence of the longitudinal, lateral and yaw motion of the vehicle. The simulation results were analysed and the faults were classified according to their controllability using the proposed method. It was shown that the controllability decreased specifically with increasing lateral acceleration and increasing speed. The results for the electric driveline faults show that this trend cannot be generalised for all the faults, as the controllability deteriorated for some faults during manoeuvres with low lateral acceleration and low speed. The proposed method is generic and can be applied to various other types of road vehicles and faults.     

Investigation of active torsion bar actuator configurations to reduce vehicle body roll

The increasing popularity of sport utility/light-duty vehicles has prompted the investigation of active roll management systems to reduce vehicle body roll. To minimize vehicle body roll and improve passenger comfort, one emerging solution is an active torsion bar control system. The validation of automotive safety systems requires analytical evaluation and laboratory testing prior to implementation on an actual vehicle. In this article, a computer simulation tool and accompanying hardware-in-the-loop test environment are presented for active torsion bar systems to study component configurations and performance limits. The numerical simulation illustrates that the hydraulic cylinder extension limits the active torsion system’s ability to provide body roll angle reduction under various driving conditions. To compare the control system’s time constant and body roll minimization capabilities for different hydraulic valve assemblies and equivalent hose lengths, an experimental test stand was created. For a typical hydraulic pressure and hose diameter, the equivalent hose length was not a key design variable that impacted the system response time. However, the servo-valve offered a quicker transient response and smoother steady-state behavior than the solenoid poppet actuators that may increase occupant safety and comfort.     

公路隧道CFD建模火灾研究与实验验证

以一段实体隧道为背景，建立计算流体动力学模型，模拟了60 L汽油火灾产生的温度场及其变化，并通过实验进行了比较。温度的模拟值和试验值无论是同一高度不同地点，还是同一高度不同时刻，在总体变化趋势上基本是一致的，而且模拟值相对试验值而言，对工程实际是偏于安全的。实验证明所建立的CFD模型是可靠的，可用于下一步大规模火灾的研究。     

Dynamics of the railway track and the underlying soil: the boundary-element solution, theoretical results and their experimental verification

A combined finite-element boundary-element method is presented in detail to calculate the dynamic interaction of the railway track and the underlying soil. A number of results are shown for ballasted and slab track, demonstrating the influence of the stiffness of the soil and the rail pads on the vertical compliance of the track. The compliance of the track is combined with a simple model of the vehicle giving the transfer function of vehicle-track interaction. An experimental verification of the theoretical results is achieved by harmonic and impulse excitation with and without static (train-) load and by combined measurements of train-track-soil interaction. A clear vehicle-track resonance is found for the slab track with elastic rail pads and for higher frequencies at highspeed traffic, the dynamic axle loads due to sleeper passage are reduced.     

Connected cruise control: modelling,delay effects,and nonlinear behaviour

Connected vehicle systems (CVS) are considered in this paper where vehicles exchange information using wireless vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. The concept of connected cruise control (CCC) is established that allows control design at the level of individual vehicles while exploiting V2V connectivity. Due to its high level of modularity the proposed design can be applied to large heterogeneous traffic systems. The dynamics of a simple CVS is analysed in detail while taking into account nonlinearities in the vehicle dynamics as well as in the controller. Time delays that arise due to intermittencies and packet drops in the communication channels are also incorporated. The results are summarised using stability charts which allow one to select control gains to maintain stability and ensure disturbance attenuation when the delay is below a critical value.