Title: Braking and steering performance analysis of a road vehicle with active independent front steering

Authors: Azadeh Farazandeh; A.K.W. Ahmed; S. Rakheja

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada

Abstract: Active front steering (AFS) systems help achieve target handling performance through simultaneous applications of steering corrections to both the wheels, but may exhibit limited performance during high-speed manoeuvres. This study explores the effectiveness of an active independent front steering (AIFS) system under application of braking to demonstrate that it could not only overcome the limitation of the AFS but also provide sufficient adhesion reserve for generating longitudinal forces. A simple AIFS controller is synthesised using the yaw rate feedback and the tyres' saturation limits. The simulation results are obtained under a wide range of braking-in-turn manoeuvres in different road conditions. Comparisons of the results with those obtained with the conventional AFS suggested greater effectiveness of the AIFS under high-speed manoeuvres. A parametric study is subsequently conducted to study the robustness of the AIFS performance. The results demonstrated enhanced braking-in-turn performance of the AIFS under conditions where the understeer handling characteristic exists.

Keywords: AIFS; active independent front steering; heavy vehicles; tyre saturation; vehicle braking; turn manoeuvres; tyre work-load; PI control; controller design; disturbance rejection; active steering; steering performance; braking performance; high-speed manoeuvres; longitudinal forces; yaw rate feedback; simulation; braking-in-turn; understeer handling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2015.071683

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2015 Vol.22 No.3, pp.255 - 276

Received: 03 Nov 2014
Accepted: 24 Mar 2015
Published online: 14 Sep 2015 *

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