Vehicle Dynamics and Control Abstracts

D. J. M. Sampson, D. Cebon, "An Investigation of Roll Control System Design for Articulated Heavy Vehicles", Proc. 4th International Symposium on Advanced Vehicle Control, Nagoya, Japan, 1998.

This paper investigates modeling requirements and design issues for developing active roll control systems for heavy commercial vehicles. A flexible, general methodology suitable for generating models of the yaw-roll dynamics of multiple-unit articulated vehicles is presented. A state feedback roll control system for a tractor semi-trailer featuring torsionally flexible tractor and trailer units is designed using the linear quadratic regulator method. The trade-offs involved in the control system design are discussed. Active roll control is shown to offer worthwhile improvements in roll performance, and the use of more sophisticated roll control schemes promises additional gains in future.

The full paper is available online (PDF, 725 KB).