Abstract
Keywords - Vehicle dynamics, simulation, roll control, yaw control, simulation environment
Abstract - In the development of advanced chassis systems, the interaction of different active systems and their combined influence on the behaviour of the vehicle need to be closely examined. In order to optimally use the safety and comfort potentials such systems can provide, interferences must be avoided and synergetic effects need to be used. While the demand for shorter development cycles and a reduction of development costs is growing, the use of computer simulation provides a powerful means to obtain reliable results early in the development of active chassis systems.
One property of most active chassis systems is the possibility to influence the vehicles handling characteristics. Common to all these systems is the generation of yaw moments around the vertical axis of the vehicle. Such systems are e.g., active steering, active four wheel drive, active roll controll, and individual wheel brake actuation. Depending on the driving situation, the possible influence of these systems upon driving dynamics differs greatly and simultaneous interventions of different systems can lead to both interferences and synergies.
This paper demonstrates the use of different simulation tools in the development process for active chassis systems. Using a full-vehicle simulation model, the influences of different active chassis systems upon vehicle dynamics are investigated. Co-simulation interfaces form a link to multi body simulations or fluid simulations, and rapid control prototyping is used with real time hardware for controller development.
In this work, an extension to this simulation environment is developed which allows the investigation of the yaw moment resulting from interventions of different active chassis systems. The work is focused on the simulation of interactions between an active roll control system and the actuation of individual wheel brakes generally used in vehicle dynamics control. Using the simulation environment, influences upon the dynamic behaviour of the complete vehicle equipped with both active systems can be assessed and controller specifications can be defined at very early stages of the development.