Development of a tractor-semitrailer stability control model

Abstract

A simplified 6-axle linear vehicle model to determine the stability control associated with tractor semitrailers is proposed. The propose of this model is to describe the vehicle dynamics accurately so as to design the active safety controller well. Verification of the 6-axle planar model is performed by putting drastically handling maneuver inputs into the model steering, then comparing the response with the response of a TruckSimTM/Simulink simulation to the idential input. It is shown that the stability control model agrees very well with the TruckSim reference. At the same time, the linear model can be used to predict the jack-knifing of tractor semi-trailer.