Nonlinear Two-Track Model of a Semitrailer with Experimental Validation of Lateral and Vertical Tire Forces

TL;DR

This paper develops and validates a nonlinear two-track model of a semitrailer that captures lateral and vertical tire forces, aiding the development of advanced assistance systems for commercial vehicles.

Contribution

It introduces a novel two-track model including lateral and roll dynamics of the semitrailer, validated with experimental tire force measurements, facilitating future vehicle state estimation.

Findings

Model accurately predicts lateral and vertical tire forces.

Particle-Swarm-Optimization effectively identifies model parameters.

Validation confirms model's suitability for assistance system development.

Abstract

As part of the automation of commercial vehicles, the number of assistance systems in this field is continuously increasing. The semitrailer plays an important role for the vehicles driving dynamics due to its highly varying loads and the large proportion to the total mass of the truck-semitrailer, especially when it is fully loaded. To create a basis for further development of assistance systems for the semitrailer, this paper presents a two-track model which includes the lateral and roll dynamics of the semitrailer. This enables the future development of observer and filter-based estimation of vehicle states and parameters, which are impossible or very difficult to measure. For offline identification of the unknown model parameters, a Particle-Swarm-Optimization (PSO) algorithm will be used. The validation of the model is based on measurements from a test vehicle. The focus is on the lateral and vertical tire forces of the semitrailer, which are measured at the test vehicle using strain gauges.