Title: Evaluation of 3D road geometry based heavy truck fuel optimisation

Authors: Wei Huang, David M. Bevly

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, 270 Ross Hall, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, 270 Ross Hall, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

Abstract: This paper investigates the benefit of using a 3D road geometry based optimal powertrain control system in reducing the fuel consumption of heavy trucks. The Optimal Control (OC) system, using constrained Nonlinear Programming (NLP), is designed to predict the optimal throttle, gear shifting and velocity trajectory, to minimise the fuel consumption and travel time. Experimental tests of a Class 8 truck are conducted with GIS 3D road geometries. Test results show that the OC system is able to significantly reduce the fuel consumption with small travel time increasing on level and rolling terrains, and gain small fuel saving on mountainous terrain, when compared to the defined baseline.

Keywords: truck fuel optimisation; NLP; nonlinear programming; 3D road geometry; terrain; map-matching system; vehicle autonomous systems; GPS; heavy trucks; heavy vehicles; powertrain control; optimal control; global positioning systems; optimal throttle; gear shifting; velocity trajectory; fuel savings.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVAS.2010.034098

International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, 2010 Vol.8 No.1, pp.39 - 55

Published online: 12 Jul 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article