Search Results

This paper examines the performance of different active control strategies for improving lateral stability of car-trailer systems using numerical simulations. For car-trailer systems, three typical unstable motion modes, including trailer swing, jack-knifing and roll-over, have been identified. These unstable motion modes represent potentially hazardous situations. The effects of passive mechanical vehicle parameters on the stability of car-trailer systems have been well addressed. For a given car-trailer system, some of these passive parameters, e.g., the center of gravity of the trailer, are greatly varied under different operating conditions. Thus, lateral stability cannot be guaranteed by selecting a specific passive parameter set. To address this problem, various active control techniques have been proposed to improve handling and stability of car-trailer systems. Feasible control methods involve active trailer steering control (ATSC) and active trailer braking (ATB).