Active roll control and integration with electronic stability control system: simulation study

Abstract

This paper describes research into the control of vehicles fitted with Electronic Stability Control System (ESC) and Active Roll Control (ARC). Both single-channel and dual-channel ARC are combined with ESC and the handling performance of the vehicle with these systems is investigated using CarSimTM simulation environment. The capability of a single-channel ARC provided by a supplier as a black box for roll compensation, and a dual-channel ARC, developed in this paper that combines a feed-forward and feedback control are investigated. The feed-forward control controls the vehicle roll motion, and the feedback control modifies the front and rear roll stiffness from the feed-forward setting to influence the vehicle understeer behaviour. First, we study the effect of the single channel ARC on the steady state and transient characteristics of the vehicle by modifying the roll characteristics of the car. Second, we investigate the possibility of influencing the vehicle handling using dual channel ARC to vary the roll moment distribution to reduce vehicle oversteer and improving yaw velocity tracking by actively controlling the front-to-rear roll stiffness distribution. Finally, we present simulations to demonstrate the handling performance of the integrated ESC and both single-channel and dual-channel ARC.