Fault-tolerant control of heavy-haul trains

The fault-tolerant control (FTC) of heavy-haul trains is discussed on the basis of the speed regulation proposed in previous works. The fault modes of trains are assumed and the corresponding fault detection and isolation (FDI) are studied. The FDI of sensor faults is based on a geometric approach for residual generators. The FDI of a braking system is based on the observation of the steady-state speed. From the difference of the steady-state speeds between the fault system and the faultless system, one can get fault information. Simulation tests were conducted on the suitability of the FDIs and the redesigned speed regulators. It is shown that the proposed FTC does not explicitly worsen the performance of the speed regulator in the case of a faultless system, while it obviously improves the performance of the speed regulator in the case of a faulty system.     

Influence of some vehicle and track parameters on the environmental vibrations induced by railway traffic

A study is performed on the influence of some typical railway vehicle and track parameters on the level of ground vibrations induced in the neighbourhood. The results are obtained from a previously validated simulation framework considering in a first step the vehicle/track subsystem and, in a second step, the response of the soil to the forces resulting from the first analysis. The vehicle is reduced to a simple vertical 3-dof model, corresponding to the superposition of the wheelset, the bogie and the car body. The rail is modelled as a succession of beam elements elastically supported by the sleepers, lying themselves on a flexible foundation representing the ballast and the subgrade. The connection between the wheels and the rails is realised through a non-linear Hertzian contact. The soil motion is obtained from a finite/infinite element model. The investigated vehicle parameters are its type (urban, high speed, freight, etc.) and its speed. For the track, the rail flexural stiffness, the railpad stiffness, the spacing between sleepers and the rail and sleeper masses are considered. In all cases, the parameter value range is defined from a bibliographic browsing. At the end, the paper proposes a table summarising the influence of each studied parameter on three indicators: the vehicle acceleration, the rail velocity and the soil velocity. It namely turns out that the vehicle has a serious influence on the vibration level and should be considered in prediction models.     

Multivariable speed synchronisation for a parallel hybrid electric vehicle drivetrain

In this article, a new drivetrain configuration of a parallel hybrid electric vehicle is considered and a novel model-based control design strategy is given. In particular, the control design covers the speed synchronisation task during a restart of the internal combustion engine. The proposed multivariable synchronisation strategy is based on feedforward and decoupled feedback controllers. The performance and the robustness properties of the closed-loop system are illustrated by nonlinear simulation results.     

Investigating the influence of soil properties on railway traffic vibration using a numerical model

This paper presents the influence of dynamic and geometrical soil parameters on the propagation of ground vibrations induced by external loads. The proposed approach is based on a three-dimensional model, focusing on realistic excitation sources like impulse loads and moving railway vehicles. For the latter, a complete vehicle/track model is developed. The simulation is performed in time domain, offering an interesting approach, compared with classic cyclic analyses. The ground is modelled initially as an elastic homogeneous half-space and additionally as a layered half-space. First, the effect of homogeneous soil properties on ground vibration is analysed. Soil stratification is then taken into account, using various configurations. Analysis reveals that as receiver distance increases ground wave reflection in a layered ground plays an important role in the reduction of ground surface motion. This effect is magnified when the phase velocity wavelength becomes large compared with the depth of the surface layer.     

Multi-objective control of a full-car model using linear-matrix-inequalities and fixed-order optimisation

This paper studies multi-objective control of a full-vehicle suspension excited by random road disturbances. The control problem is first formulated as a mixed ?₂/?_∞ synthesis problem and an output-feedback solution is obtained by using linear-matrix-inequalities. Next, the multi-objective control problem is re-formulated as a non-convex and non-smooth optimisation problem with controller order restricted to be less than the vehicle model order. For a range of orders, controllers are synthesised by using the HIFOO toolbox. The efficacy of the presented procedures are demonstrated by several design examples.     

Simulation study on the operating characteristics of a hybrid hydraulic passenger car with a power split transmission

In this paper, a hybrid hydraulic passenger car (HHPC) coupled with a power split continuously variable transmission (P-CVT) is proposed. This P-CVT is capable of splitting the power from the internal combustion engine into mechanical and hydraulic power flows. By adjusting the ratio of the mechanical power to hydraulic power, the P-CVT enables the transmission ratio to be changed continuously. Meanwhile, the P-CVT system can capture the braking energy and store it in the hydraulic accumulator for the next assistant driving. In order to quantitatively investigate the effect of applying P-CVT on improving the fuel economy and operating performance for the HHPC, a numerical simulation is conducted under typical city driving conditions. The simulation results demonstrate that, the P-CVT permits the engine to be run under a more efficient operating range. The total fuel consumption of the HHPC is reduced by 16.4% under the test conditions, compared with that of the original car.     

Decoupled 3D moment control using in-wheel motors

Vehicles equipped with in-wheel motors are being studied and developed as a type of electric vehicle. Since these motors are attached to the suspension, a large vertical suspension reaction force is generated during driving. Based on this mechanism, this paper describes the development of a method for independently controlling roll and pitch as well as yaw using driving force distribution control at each wheel. It also details the theoretical calculation of a method for decoupling the dynamic motions. Finally, it describes the application of these 3D dynamic motion control methods to a test vehicle and the confirmation of the performance improvement.     

Non-fragile multi-objective static output feedback control of vehicle active suspension with time-delay

This paper presents an approach to design a delay-dependent non-fragile H_∞/L₂–L_∞ static output feedback (SOF) controller for active suspension with input time-delay. The control problem of quarter-car active suspension with actuator time-delay is formulated to a H_∞/L₂–L_∞ control problem. By employing a delay-dependent Lyapunov function, new existence conditions of delay-dependent non-fragile SOF H_∞ controller and L₂–L_∞ controller are derived, respectively, in terms of the feasibility of bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs). Then, a procedure based on linear matrix inequality optimisation and a hybrid algorithm of the particle swarm optimisation and differential evolution is used to solve an optimisation problem with BMI constraints. Design and simulation results of non-fragile H_∞/L₂–L_∞ controller for active suspension show that the designed controller not only can achieve the optimal performance and stability of the closed-loop system in spite of the existence of the actuator time-delay, but also has significantly improved the non-fragility characteristics over controller perturbations.     

Robust cascade control for the horizontal motion of a vehicle with single-wheel actuators

The article presents a cascade control for the horizontal motion of a vehicle with single-wheel actuators. The outer control loop for the longitudinal and lateral accelerations and the yaw rate ensures a desired vehicle motion. By a combination of state feedback control and observer-based disturbance feedforward the inner control loop robustly stabilises the rotating and steering motions of the wheels in spite of unknown frictions between tyres and ground. Since the three degrees of freedom of the horizontal motion are affected by eight tyre forces, the vehicle considered is an over-actuated system. Thus additional control objectives can be realised besides the desired motion trajectory as, for example, a maximum in driving safety. The corresponding analytical tyre force allocation also guarantees real-time capability because of its relatively low computational effort. Provided suitable fault detection and isolation are available, the proposed cascade control has the potential of fault-tolerance, because the force allocation is adaptable. Another benefit results from the modular control structure, because it allows a stepwise implementation. Besides, it only requires a small number of measurements for control purposes. These measurements are the rotational speeds and steering angles of the wheels, the longitudinal and lateral acceleration and the yaw rate of the vehicle.     

A novel fuzzy logic correctional algorithm for traction control systems on uneven low-friction road conditions

The traction control system (TCS) might prevent excessive skid of the driving wheels so as to enhance the driving performance and direction stability of the vehicle. But if driven on an uneven low-friction road, the vehicle body often vibrates severely due to the drastic fluctuations of driving wheels, and then the vehicle comfort might be reduced greatly. The vibrations could be hardly removed with traditional drive-slip control logic of the TCS. In this paper, a novel fuzzy logic controller has been brought forward, in which the vibration signals of the driving wheels are adopted as new controlled variables, and then the engine torque and the active brake pressure might be coordinately re-adjusted besides the basic logic of a traditional TCS. In the proposed controller, an adjustable engine torque and pressure compensation loop are adopted to constrain the drastic vehicle vibration. Thus, the wheel driving slips and the vibration degrees might be adjusted synchronously and effectively. The simulation results and the real vehicle tests validated that the proposed algorithm is effective and adaptable for a complicated uneven low-friction road.