Dynamic Response of a Vehicle-Bridge Expansion Joint Coupled System

The paper investigates the dynamic vibration property of the vehicle-bridge expansion joint coupled system with the proposed model. The dynamic response of the expansion joint under the action of the vehicle is the key factor affecting the life of the expansion joint. The changes of contact state and tire geometric characteristics were frequently left aside in the past to simplify the tire model. This is because the contact between tire and expansion joint is a very complex process. But this will seriously underestimate the impact effect of the vehicle on the expansion joint. In this paper, a dynamic mathematical model of the 2-axle vehicle-modular bridge expansion joint (MBEJ) coupled system is established by introducing a flexible roller tire model. The influence of tread rigid displacement and change in the tire contact patch length are considered in the dynamic model. Based on this model, the characteristics of the dynamic tire load and the center beam vibration displacement in the coupled system are obtained by simulation. The results show that the maximum dynamic tire load of the vehicle occurs at the end of the bridge deck behind the MBEJ, so local structure reinforcement needs to be considered. The interaction between the front and rear wheels of the 2-axle vehicle can be ignored. The vehicle position, vehicle velocity, gap width, and spring stiffness of the center beam bearing have significant effects on the impact factors of tire load and center beam vibration displacement. The impact factor of tire load may exceed the recommended values of Chinese and European bridge codes. These should be taken seriously.

Rollover Prevention Control for Autonomous Electric Road Sweeper

This paper presents a method to prevent the rollover of autonomous electric road sweepers (AERS). AERS have an articulated frame steering (AFS) mechanism. Moreover, the heights of the center of gravity of the front and rear bodies are high. As such, they are prone to rolling over at low speeds and at small articulation angles. A bicycle model with a nonlinear tire model was used as a vehicle model for AERS. Using that vehicle model, path tracking and speed controllers were designed in order to follow a predefined path and speed profile, respectively. To check the rollover propensity of AERS, load transfer ratio (LTR) based the rollover analysis was completed. Based on the results of the analysis, a rollover prevention scheme was proposed. To validate the proposed scheme, a simulation was conducted using a U-shaped path under constant speed conditions. From the simulation, it was shown that the proposed scheme is effective in preventing AERS from rolling over.

Decoupling control of active suspension and four-wheel steering based on Backstepping-ADRC with mechanical elastic wheel

Mechanical elastic wheel (MEW) has the advantages of explosion-proof and prick-proof, which is conducive to the safety and maneuverability of the vehicle. However, the research on the performance of the full vehicle equipped with MEW is rare. Considering the particular properties of the radial and cornering stiffness of MEW, this paper aims to take into account both ride comfort and yaw stability of the vehicle equipped with the MEW through a nonlinear control method. Firstly, a 9-DOF nonlinear full vehicle model with the MEW tire model is constructed. The tire model is fitted based on experimental data, which corrects the impacts of vertical load on the cornering characteristic of the MEW. Then the full vehicle system is decoupled into four subsystems with a single input and a single output each according to active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) technology. In this process, the coupling relationship between different motions of the original system is regarded as the disturbance. Afterward, a novel nonlinear extended state observer is proposed, which has a similar structure of traditional linear extended state observer but smaller estimation error. Next, the control law of Backstepping-ADRC for different subsystems are derived respectively based on the Lyapunov theory. For the first time, the Backstepping-ADRC method is applied to the decoupling control of four-wheel steering and active suspension systems. Furthermore, the parameters of the controllers are adjusted through a multi-objective optimization scheme. Finally, simulation results validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed controller, especially when encountering some disturbances. The indices of vehicle body attitude and ride comfort are improved significantly, and also the yaw stability is guaranteed simultaneously.

Pavement State Recognition Method Considering Slope

For the problem of road surface condition recognition, this paper proposes a real-time tracking method to estimate road surface slope and adhesion coefficient. Based on the fusion of dynamics and kinematics, the current road slope of the vehicle which correct vertical load is estimated. The effect of the noise from dynamic and kinematic methods on the estimation results is removed by designing a filter. The normalized longitudinal force and lateral force are calculated by Dugoff tire model, and the Jacobian matrix of the vector function of the process equation is obtained by combining the relevant theory of EKF algorithm. The road adhesion coefficient is estimated finally. The effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated by analyzing the results under different operating conditions, such as docking road and bisectional road, using a joint simulation of Matlab/Simulink and Carsim.

Theoretical Tire Model for Wear Progress of Tires with Tread Pattern Considering Two-Dimensional Contact Patch

ABSTRACT A new theoretical tire model for the wear progress of tires with tread block pattern is developed considering a two-dimensional contact patch. In the model, the wear energy is calculated from the shear force and pressure distribution in a two-dimensional contact patch that are changed with not only shear forces in a contact patch but also with the wear and irregular wear of tires. The fore–aft shear force in a contact patch consists of six mechanisms related to slip ratio, camber, contact between a tire and a road, barrel deformation of a loaded block, rolling resistance, and a rolling tire with rounded crown shape, whereas the lateral shear force consists of three mechanisms related to slip angle/camber, contact of a tire with rounded crown shape, and barrel deformation of a loaded block. The heel and toe irregular wear and the progress of irregular wear under pure slip condition qualitatively agree with the conventional knowledge of tire engineers. The expected wear energy is introduced to predict the wear progress under combined slip condition in the wear course. Using the vehicle dynamics to predict the tire force history, a histogram of external forces is obtained by transforming from it. Calculating wear energies by changing slip angle and slip ratio, the relation between external forces and the wear energy is expressed as the response surface. Multiplying the wear energy by the histogram, the expected wear energy distribution in a block is calculated. Assuming that the worn depth is proportional to the expected wear energy, the wear progress is predicted.