Vibration control of a military vehicle weapon platform under the influence of integrated ride and cornering dynamics

Abstract

The present study is focussed upon vibration control of the weapon elevation and azimuth dynamics mathematical model under influence of the 20 degree of freedom integrated ride and cornering dynamics non-linear mathematical model of a military vehicle with trailing arm suspension. The PID, LQR and Backstepping control techniques are applied in the weapon dynamics model in order to achieve the desired level of gun stabilisation over different manoeuvring situations. The control methods are initially implemented in the weapon elevation dynamics mathematical model which is subjected to vehicle ride response inputs only. In the later section, the control methods are incorporated in the azimuth dynamics mathematical model which is subjected to the integrated ride and cornering dynamic response inputs from different manoeuvres. The control forces are incorporated in the governing equations of motion for the weapon elevation and azimuth dynamics. The equations of motion for the weapon elevation and azimuth dynamics with incorporated control parameters, are transformed into state space matrix domain and solved by using Matlab. The elevation and azimuth dynamic responses are observed over the random terrain and with variable track velocities, respectively and compared with the corresponding passive models. It is observed that adequate attenuation of the vehicle dynamic inputs could be attained with the control techniques which led to desired weapon stabilisation in both elevation and azimuth directions. Compared to other controllers, backstepping control strategy is observed to provide the maximum attenuation in weapon responses by directly considering the Lyapunov stability criterion in its formulation. Therefore, the basic focus is to evaluate the gun muzzle response reduction by implementing different control techniques under the influence of a non-linear vehicle dynamic platform. These studies would provide the motivation and foundation behind design and development of gun control system for the military vehicles with All Electric Drive.