Title: Anti-jackknife state feedback control law for nonholonomic vehicles with trailer sliding mechanism

Authors: John Stergiopoulos, Stamatis Manesis

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 6 Eratosthenous Str., Patras, Achaia 26500, Greece. ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 6 Eratosthenous Str., Patras, Achaia 26500, Greece

Abstract: The kinematic behaviour of a multi-trailer truck vehicle is an interesting issue, particularly in backward driving where the system is unstable. This paper presents a state feedback controller for a trailer system, consisting of a steering tractor and a passive trailer, linked with an active sliding-able free joint. The control law acts as an anti-jackknife stabilisator during backward motion, but can also incorporate off-tracking suppression during forward motion. Stability of backward motion is based on the concept of the kingpin sliding mechanism, where the sliding velocity is regulated by the controller. Performance of the controller is confirmed by simulation.

Keywords: nonholonomic vehicles; jackknifing; multibody vehicles; kingpin sliding; state feedback control; kinematics; multi-trailer truck vehicles; steering tractors; passive trailers; backward motion; off-tracking suppression; forward motion; sliding velocity; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCC.2009.024557

International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications, 2009 Vol.1 No.3, pp.297 - 311

Published online: 09 Apr 2009 *

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