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. "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.

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.

Project Funding

Industrial