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The adhesion control is the basic technology of active safety for the four-wheel driven EV. In this paper, a novel adhesion control method based on fuzzy logic control is proposed. The control system can maximize the adhesion force without road condition information and vehicle speed signal. Also, the regulation torque to prevent wheel slip is smooth and the vehicle driving comfort is greatly improved. For implementation, only the rotating speed of the driving wheel and the motor driving torque signals are needed, while the derived information of the wheel acceleration and the skid status are used. The simulation and road test results have shown that the adhesion control method is effective for preventing slip and lock on the slippery road condition.

During a car launch, the driving torque from driveline acts on brake disk, and may lead the pad to slip against the disk. Especially with slow brake pedal release, there is still brake torque applies on the disk, which will retard the rotation of disk, and under certain conditions, the disk and pad may stick again, so the reciprocated stick and slip can induce the noise and vibration, which can be transmitted to a passenger by both tactile and aural paths, this phenomenon is defined as brake groan. In this paper, we propose a nonlinear dynamics model of brake for bidirectional, and with 7 Degrees of Freedom (DOFs), and phase locus and Lyapunov Second Method are utilized to study the mechanism of groan. Time-frequency analysis method then is adopted to analyze the simulation results, meanwhile a test car is operated under corresponding conditions, and the test signals are sampled and then processed to acquire the features.

Recently, electro-hydraulic brake systems (EHB) has been developed to take place of the vacuum booster, having the advantage of faster pressure build-up and continuous pressure regulation. In contrast to the vacuum booster, the pressure estimation for EHB is worth to be studied due to its abundant resource (i.e. electric motor) and cost-effective benefit. This work improves an interconnected pressure estimation algorithm (IPEA) based on actuator characteristics by introducing the vehicle dynamics and validates it via vehicle tests. Considering the previous IPEA as the prior pressure estimation, the wheel speed feedback is used for modification via a proportional-integral (PI) observer. Superior to the IPEA based on actuator characteristics, the proposed PEA improves the accuracy by more than 20% under the mismatch of pressure-position relation.

There are a large number of uncertainties in engineering design, and the accumulated uncertainties will enlarge the overall failure probability of the structure system. Therefore, structural design considering uncertainties has good guiding significance for improving the reliability of engineering structures. To address this issue, the dynamic-static structural topology optimization is established and reliability-based topology optimization with decoupling format is conducted in this study. The design point which satisfying the constraint of the target reliability indicator is obtained according to the reliability indicators of the first-order reliability method, and the uncertain design variables are modified into a deterministic variable according to the sensitivity information.

The action of load on the component is crucial to evaluate the performance of durability. Another factor that affects fatigue life is the boundary conditions of the test specimen being tested by introducing unrealistic loads on the component of interest. The physical test is widely conducted in the laboratory. The fixture provides additional constraints on the test specimen as well as reaction forces to balance the test system [1]. The characteristics of the fixture involved in the test is important to analyze and assess the test results [2]. The impact of the reaction force of the fixture on the spindle-coupled axle road simulation test is presented in this article. A simplified 7-DoF (degrees of freedom) model is introduced to demonstrate the dynamic behavior of the vehicle. The influence on the internal load by the fixture has been analyzed. Followed by a more detailed MBS (multibodysystem) model to give a thorough understanding of the phenomenon.

This paper describes a methodology to estimate yaw rate of a 4-wheel-drive electric vehicle, in which wheel driven torque can be independently controlled by electric motor. Without non-driven wheels it would be difficult to estimate the vehicle yaw rate precisely, especially when some of the four wheels have large slip ratio. Therefore, a model based estimation methodology is put forward, which uses four wheel speeds, steering wheel angle and vehicle lateral acceleration as input signals. Firstly the yaw rate is estimated through three different ways considering both vehicle kinematics and vehicle dynamics. Vehicle kinematics based method has good estimation accuracy even when the vehicle has large lateral acceleration. However, it can not provide satisfying results when the wheel has large slip ratio. In contrast, vehicle dynamics based method is not so sensitive to wheel slip ratio.

The effects of biodiesel on the swelling of the elastomers and plastics and the corrosion of metals are studied by the immersion tests. The results indicate that biodiesels make little corrosion effect on aluminum, steel and little swelling impact on plastics, but a significant corrosion may be taken place on cooper and brass for some sourced biodiesels. For nitrile-butadiene rubber, the variation of swelling properties in biodiesels is slightly higher than that in diesel. For the non-diesel-resistant elatomers, the variation of swelling properties is lower than those in diesel. The production process and biodiesel source have an influence on the result of elastomer swelling and corrosion. The relationship between the impact of biodiesel on materials and biodiesels properties are also discussed.

Path following controller of a six-wheel skid-steering vehicle is designed. The vehicle speed is controlled through engine speed control and the lateral vehicle steering is controlled through hydraulic braking on each side. Contrary to the common approaches considering non-holonomic constraints, vehicle dynamic characteristics and nonlinear characteristics of tire are considered. A hierarchical control structure is applied in this vehicle control system. The kinematic controller works out the reference yaw rate and reference vehicle speed. And a robust dynamic controller tracks the reference signal. In addition, the dynamic controller takes actuator ability into account.

In this paper, a novel method is proposed to establish the vehicle yaw stability criterion based on the sideslip angle-yaw rate (β-r) phase plane method. First, nonlinear two degrees of freedom vehicle analysis model is established by adopting the Magic Formula of nonlinear tire model. Then, according to the model in the Matlab/Simulink environment, the β-r phase plane is gained. Emphatically, the effects of different driving conditions (front wheels steering angle, road adhesion coefficient and speed) on the stability boundaries of the phase plane are analyzed. Through a large number of simulation analysis, results show that there are two types of phase plane: curve stability region and diamond stability region, and the judgment method of the vehicle stability domain type under different driving conditions is solved.

Path tracking is the rudimentary capability and primary task for autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs). In this paper, a novel four-wheel-independent-steering (4WIS) and four-wheel-independent-drive (4WID) electric vehicle (EV) is proposed which is equipped with steer-by-wire (SBW) system. For path-tracking controller design, the nonlinear vehicle model with 2 degrees of freedom (DOF) is built utilizing the nonlinear Dugoff tire model. The nonlinear dynamic model of SBW system is conducted as well considering the external disturbances. As to the path-tracking controller design, an integrated four-wheel steering (4WS) and direct yaw-moment control (DYC) system is designed based on the model predictive control (MPC) algorithm to track the target path described by desired yaw angle and lateral displacement. Then, the fast terminal sliding mode controller (FTSMC) is proposed for the SBW system to suppress disturbances.

The statement of the engine shake problem is presented through comparing the quarter vehicle models with the rigid-connected and flexible-connected powertrain which is supported on the body by a rubber mount. Then the model is extended by replacing the rubber mount as a hydraulic engine mount (HEM) with regard to the inertia and resistance of the fluid within the inertia track. Based on these, a full vehicle model with 14 degree of freedoms (DOFs) is proposed to calculate the engine shake, which consists of 6 of the powertrain, 1 of the fluid within the inertia track of the HEM, 3 of the car body and 4 of the unsprung mass. Simulation analysis based on the proposed model is implemented, through which the conclusion is drawn that the HEM has great influence on the body and seat track response subjected to front wheel inputs, compared with the rubber mount.

In order to improve the robustness and stability of autonomous vehicle at high speed, a path tracking approach which combines front steering and differential braking is investigated in this paper. A bicycle model with 3-DOFs is established and a linear time-varying predictive model using front steering as its control input can be derived. Based on model predictive theory, the path tracking issue using linear time-varying model predictive control can be transformed into an online quadratic programming problem with constraints. The expected front steering angle can be obtained from online moving optimization. Then the direct yawing control is adopted to treat two types of differential braking control. The first one investigates steady-state gain of yaw rate in linear 2-DOFs vehicle model, and designs a stable differential braking controller which is based on reference yaw rate.

Vehicle sideslip angle is significant for electronic stability control devices and hard to estimate due to the nonlinear and uncertain vehicle and tire dynamics. In this paper, based on the two track vehicle dynamic model considering the tire pneumatic trail variation, the vehicle sideslip angle estimation method was proposed. First, the extra steering angle of each wheel caused by kinematics and compliance characteristics of the steering system and suspension system was analyzed. The steering angle estimation method was designed. Since the pneumatic trail would vary with different tire slip angle, distances between the center of gravity (COG) and front&rear axle also change with the tire slip angle. Then, based on the dynamic pneumatic trail and estimated steering angle, we modified the traditional two track vehicle dynamic model using a brush tire model. This model matches the vehicle dynamics more accurately.

Vehicle sideslip angle estimation is of great importance to the vehicle stability control as it could not be measured directly by ordinary vehicle-mounted sensors. As a result, researchers worldwide have carried out comprehensive research in estimating the vehicle sideslip angle. First, as the attitude would affect the acceleration information measured by the IMU directly, different kinds of vehicle attitude estimation methods with multi-sensor fusion are presented. Then, the estimation algorithms of the vehicle sideslip angle are classified into the following three aspects: kinematic model based method, dynamic model based method, and fusion method. The characteristics of different estimation algorithms are also discussed. Finally, the conclusion and development trend of the sideslip angle estimation are prospected.

The integrated control system which combines the differential drive assisted steering (DDAS) and the direct yaw moment control (DYC) for the distributed drive electric vehicle (DDEV) is studied. A handling improvement algorithm for the normal cornering maneuvers is proposed based on motion tracking control. Considering the ideal assistant power character curves at different velocities, an open-loop DDAS control strategy is developed to respond the driver’s demand of steering wheel torque. The DYC strategy contains the steering angle feedforward and the yaw rate feedback. The steering angle feedforward control strategy is employed to improve yaw rate steady gain of vehicle. The maximum feedforward coefficients at different velocities are obtained from the constraint of the motor external characteristic, final feedforward coefficients are calculated according to the ideal assistant power character curve of the DDAS.

The coordinated control of stability and steering systems in collision avoidance steering evasion has been widely studied in vehicle active safety area, but the studies are mainly aimed at autonomous vehicle without driver or conventional combustion engine vehicle. This paper focuses on the control of hybrid vehicle integrated with rear hub in emergency steering evasion situation, and considering the driver’s characteristics. First, the mathematics model of vehicle dynamics and driver has been given. Second, based on the planned steering evasion path, the model predictive control method is presented for achieving higher evasion path tracking accuracy under driver’s steering input. The prediction model includes an adaptive preview distance driver model and a vehicle dynamics model to predict the driver input and the vehicle trajectory.

This paper constructs the Accident Crash Scenarios(ACSs) classification system based on the traffic accident data collected by the traffic management department in a Chinses city from 2013 to 2015. The classification system selects four influenced variables on the basis of Critical Driving Scenarios(CDSs) in Naturalistic Driving Data. The proportions of each variable are analyzed, and all ACSs are divided into 48 scenarios. The highest proportion of nine ACSs are extracted from all 10596 ACSs, and the result shows the ACSs involved Car-Pedalcyclist occupy the top four scenarios, and the scenarios involved intersection situations are worth attention. Pedalcyclists include bicyclists, motorcyclists, tri-cyclists and electric bicyclists. Multivariate Logistic Regression(MLR) analysis is then used to study the ACSs involved the type of Car-Pedalcyclist.

The unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is applied to estimate the real vehicle velocity. The velocity estimation algorithm uses lateral acceleration, longitudinal acceleration and yaw rate as inputs. The non-linear vehicle model and Dugoff tire model are built as the estimation model of UKF. Some parameters of Dugoff tire model and vehicle, which can't be measured directly, are identified by the particle swarm optimization (PSO). For the purpose of evaluating the algorithm, the estimation values of UKF are compared with measurements of the Inertial and GPS Navigation system. Besides, the real time property of UKF is tested by xPC Target, which is a real-time software environment from MathWorks. The result of the real vehicle experiment demonstrates the availability of the UKF and PSO in vehicle velocity estimation.

Fatigue defect and failure of rubber element widely used in mechanical systems could seriously affect the safety and reliability of systems in practical operation. Because rubber element is considered as hyperelastic material, traditional σ - N curve which is usually used in metal material for fatigue life analysis can not be used here. The fatigue life of rubber bushing in automobile engine cradle was analyzed by using the energy method. The Yeoh model coefficients were given by tensile test of natural rubber, and the estimating formula for fatigue life of natural rubber was obtained by finite element calculation and fatigue test. Maximum strain energy density was treated as the parameter of fatigue damage, then the rubber bushing fatigue life was calculated by the estimating formula. The results were verified by test of rubber bushing, which indicated that the model mentioned in this paper is accuracy enough.

In this paper we present a path following control design for a six-wheel skid-steering vehicle. Contrary to the common approaches that impose non-holonomic constraints, a dynamic vehicle model is established based on a pseudo-static tire model, which uses tire slip to determine tire forces. Our control system admits a modular structure, where a motion controller computes the reference vehicle yaw rate and reference vehicle speed and a dynamics controller tracks these signals. A robust nonlinear control law is designed to track the reference wheel speeds determined by the dynamics controller with proved stability properties. Saturated control techniques are employed in designing the reference yaw rate, which ensures the magnitude of the reference yaw rate does not violate the constraint from the ground-tire adhesion. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed path following control design.