Studying an Active Anti-roll Bar Control System for Tractor-Semi Trailer Vehicles

Abstract

Today, articulated vehicles are widely used in the world because they benefit the society. However, accidents related to articulated vehicles tend to be fatal, one of the main reasons is the instability of articulated vehicles. This paper is concerned with the dynamic modeling of tractor–semi trailer vehicles. A simplified linear model is proposed, which includes the roll and yaw motions, based on the assumption that the longitudinal velocity is constant. The simulation results in a cornering and a double lane change manoeuver show that the stability of tractor-semi trailer depends on the stiffness and damping coefficients and the forward velocity. Therefore, in order to improve the vehicle roll stability, three types of active anti-roll bar system for the tractor-semi trailer are proposed: the first and second systems are equipped only for tractor and trailer respectively, while the last one can be used for both kinds of vehicles.