Application of time-variant predictive control to modelling driver steering skill

The paper addresses the need for improved mathematical models of human steering control. A multiple-model structure for a driver's internal model of a nonlinear vehicle is proposed. The multiple-model structure potentially offers a straightforward way to represent a range of driver expertise. The internal model is combined with a model predictive steering controller. The controller generates a steering command through the minimisation of a cost function involving vehicle path error. A study of the controller performance during an aggressive, nonlinear steering manoeuvre is provided. Analysis of the controller performance reveals a reduction in the closed-loop controller bandwidth with increasing tyre saturation and fixed controller gains. A parameter study demonstrates that increasing the multiple-model density, increasing the weights on the path error, and increasing the controller knowledge range all improved the path following accuracy of the controller.     

A nonlinear virtual rider for motorcycles

This work presents a virtual rider for the guidance of a nonlinear motorcycle model. The target motion is defined in terms of roll angle and speed. The virtual rider inputs are the steering torque, the rear-wheel driving/braking torque and front-wheel braking torque. The virtual rider capability is assessed by guiding the nonlinear motorcycle model in demanding manoeuvres with roll angles of 50° and longitudinal accelerations up to 0.8 g. Considerations on the effective preview distance used by the virtual rider are included.     

Observer-based clutch disengagement control during gear shift process of automated manual transmission

A clutch disengagement strategy is proposed for the shift control of automated manual transmissions. The control strategy is based on a drive shaft torque observer. With the estimated drive shaft torque, the clutch can be disengaged as fast as possible without large driveline oscillations, which contributes to the reduction of total shift time and shift shock. The proposed control strategy is tested on a complete powertrain simulation model. It is verified that the system is robust to the variations of driving conditions, such as vehicle mass and road grade. It is also demonstrated that the revised system with switched gain can provide satisfactory performance even under large estimation error of the engine torque.     

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.     

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.