Steer-by-Wire for Safe Vehicle Handling Based on Simulation and Testing

The development and design of a fully tilting, three-wheeled vehicle providing handling characteristics of a motorcycle and a steering device to be used by the driver like in an automobile has been focused.

Since the vehicle shows unstable driving modes inherent to motorcycles, a control strategy is established for stabilization by introducing a steer-by-wire system. Thereby, the applied steering torque at the front wheel corresponds to the demands of driver and controller. A detailed vehicle model is set up to investigate its dynamics and a simplified model derived for controller design. Numerical simulation results reveal proper vehicle behaviour, approved by test-runs of a prototype.

Project Goals

The aim of the project was to

• investigate the stability and handling properties of the vehicle
• study the controllability of the system w.r.t. different actuator inputs
• research on a steer-by-wire system to mimic a conventional passenger car for easy operation

Figure 1: Prototype of the tilting steer-by-wire vehicle

References

Edelmann, Johannes, Manfred Plöchl, and Peter Lugner. "A steer-by-wire control strategy for a tilting three-wheeled vehicle., opens an external URL in a new window" In Proc. of the 21st International Symposium on Dynamics of Vehicles on Roads and Tracks, p. 11. 2009.

Edelmann, Johannes, Manfred Plöchl, and Peter Lugner. "Modelling and analysis of the dynamics of a tilting three-wheeled vehicle., opens an external URL in a new window" Multibody System Dynamics 26 (2011): 469-487.

Edelmann, Johannes, and Manfred Plöchl. "Electronic stability control of a narrow tilting vehicle., opens an external URL in a new window" SAE International Journal of Materials and Manufacturing 4, no. 1 (2011): 1006-1013.

Project Funding

Industrial