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A Sliding Mode Control Scheme for Steering Flexibility and Stability in All-wheel-steering Multi-axle Vehicles

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Abstract

Multi-axle vehicles that have important roles in transport systems require high load-carrying capacity, steering performance, and stability. Thanks to the multiple steering characteristics, the dynamic performance of multi-axle vehicles can be greatly improved, which also brings great challenges for the design of their steering controller. Therefore, this paper proposes a steering control scheme for an all-wheel-steering multi-axle vehicle with the goal of optimizing low-speed steering flexibility and high-speed vehicle stability. With the dynamic analyses, the vehicle’s steady-state gains at different speeds are reshaped, which provide the closed-loop steering control system with good tracking performance. Correspondingly, a steering controller based on the sliding mode control approach is designed to control the steering angle of each wheel at different axles. The super-twisting control algorithm is also combined with a model-based observer to deal with disturbance while eliminating chattering effects of the control system. Simulation results based on a co-simulation platform verify the efficiency and disturbance rejection of the proposed control approach.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Tao Xu & Xuewu Ji

  2. Beijing Institute of Space Launch Technology, Beijing, 100076, China

    Xiangxin Liu, Zheng Li & Bo Feng

  3. Key Laboratory of Transportation Industry of Automotive Transportation Safety Enhancement Technology, Chang’an University, Xi’an, 710064, China

    Fuwei Wu

Authors
  1. Tao Xu
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  2. Xiangxin Liu
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  3. Zheng Li
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  4. Bo Feng
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  5. Xuewu Ji
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  6. Fuwei Wu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fuwei Wu.

Additional information

Tao Xu is currently a Post-doctoral of Vehicle Engineering with the Tsinghua University. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from University of Science and Technology Beijing, China in 2019 and his B.S. degree in vehicle engineering from Shandong University of Science and Technology, Shandong Provence of China in 2013. His research interests include articulated heavy vehicle design and control, and vehicle dynamics and control.

Xiangxin Liu received his M.S. degree in aerospace propulsion theory and engineering from Beihang University in 2002, and a B.S. degree from Jiangsu Institute of Petrochemical Technology in 1997. He is currently with Beijing Institute of Space Launch Technology, Beijing, China. His research interests include aerospace ground equipment design, vehicle system design, and finite element analysis.

Zheng Li received his M.S. degree in armament science and technology from China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in 2022, and a B.S. degree from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2019. He is currently with Beijing Institute of Space Launch Technology, Beijing, China. His research interests include aerospace ground equipment design, vehicle system design, and vehicle dynamic control.

Bo Feng received his B.S. degree in vehicle engineering from the School of Automotive Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology in 2007. His research interests include technological innovation and application of new energy vehicles, and reliability and redundancy verification of wire control technology.

Xuewu Ji received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in automotive engineering from the College of Automotive Engineering, Jilin University, China, in 1987, 1990 and 1994, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor at State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, China. His research interests include vehicle dynamics and control, and advanced steering system technology. Dr. Ji received the National Science and Technology Progress Award for his achievements in the industrialization of electric power steering technology in 2014.

Fuwei Wu received his B.S. degree in traffic safety engineering, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in vehicle operation engineering from Chang’an University, Xi’an, China, in 2009, 2012, and 2020, respectively. He was an Engineer with the School of Automobile, Chang’an University, where he is now a Senior Engineer. His research interests include driver behavior analysis, pedestrian behavior analysis, and traffic safety engineering.

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This work was supported in part by the Key Laboratory of Transportation Industry of Automotive Transportation Safety Enhancement Technology (Chang’an University) (No. 300102220501); National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52104163).

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Xu, T., Liu, X., Li, Z. et al. A Sliding Mode Control Scheme for Steering Flexibility and Stability in All-wheel-steering Multi-axle Vehicles. Int. J. Control Autom. Syst. 21, 1926–1938 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-021-0742-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-021-0742-4

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