Title: Steady-state cornering equilibria and stabilisation for a vehicle during extreme operating conditions

Authors: Efstathios Velenis, Emilio Frazzoli, Panagiotis Tsiotras

Addresses: School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8-3PH, UK. ' Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ' Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0150, USA

Abstract: In this work we study steady-state cornering conditions for a single-track vehicle model, without imposing restrictive conditions on the tyre slip. Inspired by recent progress in the understanding of advanced driving techniques, we design a sliding-mode control scheme stabilising steady-state cornering conditions, using only longitudinal control inputs, i.e., accelerating/braking torques applied at the front and/or rear wheels. The effectiveness of the control scheme is demonstrated in a variety of simulation scenarios, motivated by competitive race driving. Results are presented using both the baseline model, and an increased-fidelity model taking into account suspension dynamics.

Keywords: vehicle dynamics; technical driving; drift; steady-state cornering; nonlinear tyre characteristics; tyre slip; stabilisation; sliding mode control; SMC; single-track vehicle models; accelerating torque; braking torque; race driving; suspension dynamics; vehicle stability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVAS.2010.035797

International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, 2010 Vol.8 No.2/3/4, pp.217 - 241

Published online: 04 Oct 2010 *

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