Enhancement of lateral stability for a multi-wheeled combat vehicle using various control strategies

Abstract

This thesis investigates various active chassis control strategies for multi-wheeled combat vehicle to enhance its lateral stability at limit handling. The proposed control strategies are Active All- Wheel Steering (AWS), Torque Vectoring (TV) and Differential Braking (DB). At high-speed cornering maneuvers, the vehicle experiences higher load transfer which can lead to a loss of the grip between the tires and the ground. Consequently, deterioration of vehicle handling capability can occur. Hence, integration of Semi-Active Suspension (SAS) is introduced to each control strategy to enhance the vehicle’s lateral stability at high-speed cornering maneuvers. The evaluation method is conducted by executing the simulations utilizing a validated TRUCKSIM vehicle model in co-simulation with the proposed controllers in MATLAB SIMULINK. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that the integration of SAS has a significant enhancement on the vehicle lateral stability at a high coefficient of friction, unlike at a low coefficient of friction.