Semitrailer Steering Control for Improved Articulated Vehicle Manoeuvrability and Stability

Sina Milani,Reza N Jazar,Hormoz Marzbani,Y Samim Ünlüsoy

doi:10.1515/nleng-2018-0124

Abstract

Abstract Articulated heavy vehicles have some specific performance limitations and safety risks due to their special dynamic characteristics. They show poor manoeuvrability at low speeds and may lose their stability in different manners at high speeds. In this study, the potential of active steering control of the semitrailer on manoeuvrability and stability of tractor-semitrailer combinations is investigated. A linear bicycle model and a nonlinear version are used for controller design and vehicle dynamic simulation in MATLAB environment. The Linear Quadratic Regulator optimal state feedback control is used to minimise the tracking error at low-speed, and regulate Rearward Amplification ratio and roll at high-speed. Quantum Particle Swarm Optimisation is used for optimising the weighting factors. Three different control algorithms are introduced and it is demonstrated through simulations that the vehicle with the proposed steering control exhibits desirable improvements compared to the baseline vehicle.

Highlights

Being cost e ective due to reduction in labour requirements and fuel consumption, and large load carrying capacity compared to single unit vehicles, Articulated HeavyVehicles (AHVs) are among the most widely used means of road transport [1, 2]
Three di erent control algorithms are introduced and it is demonstrated through simulations that the vehicle with the proposed steering control exhibits desirable improvements compared to the baseline vehicle
Trailer swing and rollover are directly related to the ampli cation of lateral acceleration experienced at semitrailer’s centre of gravity which is known as the Rearward Ampli cation (RA) ratio

Summary

Introduction

Being cost e ective due to reduction in labour requirements and fuel consumption, and large load carrying capacity compared to single unit vehicles, Articulated Heavy. The semitrailer steering system seems to be the most e ective approach to regulate the lateral acceleration of the semitrailer resulting in more desirable yaw and roll motions with the relatively small amount of energy requirement Another reason that makes the semitrailer steering systems interesting is that they could be used to improve low-speed manoeuvrability of the vehicle by improving the tracking ability of the towed unit by means of proper steering strategies. For the high-speed case, the designer only needs to compare the peak lateral accelerations of the vehicle units during the lane-change manoeuvre This observation results in the following tness function: fp,highspeed = c max ay − max ay + c min ay − min ay + c max (|δ | ). That a small outward swing of the semitrailer in the transient cornering phase has appeared

Conclusions

Findings

A Appendix