A Three-Dimensional Dynamics Control Framework of Vehicle Lateral Stability and Rollover Prevention via Active Braking With MPC

TLDR

Variable time delays between driver inputs and vehicle responses, combined with delayed active‑brake actuation, can cause sideslip or rollover and may degrade yaw stability even in vehicles with traditional stability control systems. The study proposes a novel three‑dimensional dynamic stability controller (3DDSC) to mitigate the adverse effects of these delays and enable coordinated yaw, roll, and rollover control. The 3DDSC comprises a supervisor that predicts future states with a nonlinear vehicle model to select control modes and active‑brake controllable areas, an upper controller that applies model‑predictive control to compute tire forces within constraints, and a lower hydraulic‑pressure controller that realizes those forces, and it is evaluated via CarSim‑MATLAB co‑simulation and hardware‑in‑the‑loop tests. Results demonstrate that 3DDSC seamlessly integrates lateral stability and rollover prevention during complex steering maneuvers.

Abstract

Variable time delays exist between the driver's inputs and the responses of the vehicle dynamic states during a critical steering course. And due to the delay of active brake actuators, a sideslip or a rollover may occur even to a vehicle with a traditional stability control system. In addition, the unnecessary intervention of rollover prevention controller may deteriorate yaw stability of a vehicle in these situations. To mitigate the adverse effect of time delay on vehicle stability control and to realize coordinated stability control, a novel three-dimensional dynamic stability controller (3DDSC) is designed for yaw stability control, yaw-roll stability control and rollover prevention control. The framework consists of a supervisor, an upper controller, and a lower controller. A nonlinear vehicle model is used in the supervisor to predict the vehicle's future states and to determine the control mode and the related controllable areas with active brake method. Then model predictive control is used in the upper controller to calculate the desired tire forces of four wheels under the constraints of the given controllable area; then, the desired tire forces are realized by a lower hydraulic pressure controller. The proposed 3DDSC is evaluated with a CarSim-MATLAB cosimulation and hardware-in-the-loop simulation. The results show that 3DDSC can achieve a seamless integration of lateral stability and rollover prevention in complicated steering maneuvers.