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Dynamics of four-wheel-steering vehicles

Article  in  Forschung auf dem Gebiete des Ingenieurwesens · October 2001

DOI: 10.1007/s100100100061

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Dynamics of four-wheel-steering vehicles
K. N. Spentzas, I. Alkhazali, M. Demic
260
Abstract In this paper we present an optimised 3 degrees-
of-freedom non-linear dynamic model of a four-wheel-
steering (4WS) vehicle. As variables, we retain the lateral
velocity V, the rolling velocity p and yaw velocity r. The
front steer angle df and rear steer angle dr are considered
to be linear functions of the steering wheel angle hs and of
dhs =dt, the proportionality parameters being k1f , k2f for df
and k1r , k2r for dr . The parameters k1f , k2f , k1r , k2r are
optimised by use of the BOX mathematical algorithm. In a
®rst optimisation loop we minimise the sideslip angle b of
the vehicle and in a second optimisation loop we assure,
that the resultant (taken in the centre of gravity of the
vehicle) of all the transversal forces Fy applied on the
wheels of the vehicle (reaction forces contained in the road
plane), give a component Fyx along the longitudinal axis of
the vehicle, that takes a non negative value. This assures,
that the motor of the vehicle will not waste fuel to over-
come resistance forces originating from the steering
system of the vehicle. A numerical application is also
presented for a 4WS vehicle negotiating a curve at con-
stant velocity. The results are compared to those obtained
by two models frequently used in the literature. The
comparison testi®es on the superiority of our model for
the application presented here.
Dynamik der vierradgelenkten Fahrzeuge
Zusammenfassung In diesem Beitrag wird ein optimiertes
nicht-lineares dynamisches Model eines vierradgelenkten
Fahrzeuges mit 3 Freiheitsgraden praÈsentiert. Als Variable
wird die Seitenwindgeschwindigkeit V, die Nicken-
winkelgeschwindigkeit p und die Gierenwinkelgeschwin-
digkeit r beibehalten. Der Vorderradeinschlagwinkel df
und der Hinterradeinschlagwinkel dr werden als lineare
Received: 9. January 2001
K. N. Spentzas (&)
Mechanical Engineering Department,
National Technical University of Athens,
Polytechnioupolis, Building M,
15780 Athens, Greece
I. Alkhazali
National Technical University of Athens,
Polytechnioupolis, Building M,
15780 Athens, Greece
M. Demic
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Kragujevac,
34000 Kragujevac, Yugoslavia
Forschung im Ingenieurwesen 66 (2001) 260±266 Ó Springer-Verlag 2001
Funktionen des Lenkradwinkels hs und dhs =dt, ange-
nommen, mit ProportionalitaÈtsparameter k1f , k2f fuÈr df
und k1r , k2r fuÈr dr . Die Parameter k1f , k2f , k1r , k2r sind fuÈr
den mathematischen Algorithmus BOX optimiert. In einer
ersten Optimierungsschleife wird der Seitenrutschwinkel b
minimiert und in einer zweiten Optimierungsschleife wird
gesichert, die Resultierende (am Schwerpunkt des Fahr-
zeuges angenommen), aller auf den FahrzeugraÈdern wir-
kenden QuerkraÈften Fy (ReaktionskraÈfte sind in der
Straûenebene enthalten) eine Komponente Fyx entlang der
FahrzeuglaÈngsachse ergeben, die keinen negativen Wert
annimmt. Damit wird gewaÈhrleistet, das der Fahrzeug-
motor nicht Kraftstoff verschwendet, um die Wider-
standskraÈfte des Fahrzeuglenksystems zu uÈberwinden.
Eine numerische Applikation fuÈr ein Fahrzeug, das eine
Kurve mit konstanter Geschwindigkeit faÈhrt, wird praÈ-
sentiert. Die Resultate werden mit zwei Modellen vergli-
chen, die haÈu®g in der Literatur benutzt werden. Der
Vergleich bezeugt die U È berlegenheit unseres Modells fuÈr
die hier praÈsentierte Applikation.
List of symbols
a; b distance of the front and rear axle to the centre
of gravity of the sprung mass (absolute value)
Ax , Ay longitudinal and lateral acceleration/decelera-
tion respectively
Cf , Cr aligning stiffness of a single front and of a single
rear wheel respectively
Droll total roll damping of the suspension
Fkj force acting along the k direction on the jth
wheel (k ˆ x; y; z and j = fo,®,ro,ri)
Fyx projection on the vehicle's longitudinal axis of
the resultant of all the forces that are contained
in the tire-road plane and are applied on the
wheels
g acceleration of the gravity
hra roll axis distance from the centre of gravity of
the sprung mass
I xs roll moment of inertia of the sprung mass
Iz yaw moment of inertia of the vehicle
Kf , Kr roll stiffness of the front and rear suspension
respectively
Kroll total roll stiffness of the suspension
k ratio of the rear steer angle to the front steer
angle
` wheelbase of the vehicle
m mass
n transmission ratio of the steering box
p roll angular velocity of the sprung mass
K. N. Spentzas et al.: Dynamics of four-wheel-steering vehicles

q pitch angular velocity of the sprung mass Fyr ˆ Cr
ar : …4†

r yaw angular velocity of the vehicle
t time Each one of the sideslip angles is a functions of the steer
2tf , 2tr absolute value of the front and of the rear track angle of the respective wheel and is computed as follows
width respectively af ˆ df …V ‡ a
r†=U …5†
U forward velocity of the vehicle
ar ˆ dr …V b
r†=U : …6†
V lateral velocity of the vehicle
WL longitudinal weight transfer The following relations de®ne the steer angles of the
Wbf , Wbr front and rear transversal weight transfer due to wheels
body roll df ˆ hs =n …7†
Wrf , Wrf front and rear transversal weight transfer due to
dr ˆ k
df : …8† 261
roll centre height
WTf , WTr front and rear transversal weight transfer hs being the steering wheel angle, n being the transmission
Wuf , Wur front and rear transversal weight transfer due to ratio of the steering box and k the proportionality coef®-
the height of the un-sprung mass cient between the front steer angle and rear steer angle.
aj sideslip angle of the jth wheel of the vehicle From the above relations we can compute the propor-
b sideslip angle of the vehicle tionality coef®cient k
dj steer angle of the jth wheel of the vehicle
hs rotation angle of the steering wheel k ˆ … b
L ‡ a
m
V 2 =Cr †=…a
L ‡ b
m
V 2 =Cf † :
u roll angle of the sprung mass …9†
w heading angle of the vehicle
Model II. A 3 degrees-of-freedom non-linear model that
Subscripts retains as variables the lateral velocity V, the rolling ve-
f front wheel locity p and yaw velocity r and considers the rear wheels
G centre of mass steer angle dr proportional to the front wheels steer angle
i inner wheel to the negotiated curve df .
j jth wheel of the vehicle (j = f for front wheels, The equations of motion for model II are
j = r for rear wheels or j ˆ 1 for the front left X
wheel, j ˆ 2 for the front right wheel, j ˆ 3 for the m…U
r ‡ dV=dt† ‡ ms
hra …dp=dt† ˆ ‰Fy Š …10†
rear left wheel and j ˆ 4 for the rear right wheel) X
Iz
…dr=dt† ˆ ‰Mz Š …11†
o outer wheel to the negotiated curve
r rear wheel Ixs …dp=dt† ‡ ms hra …U
r ‡ dV=dt†
s sprung
u un-sprung ˆ …ms
g
hra Kroll †
u Droll
p : …12†
w wheel
A non-linear de®nition of the sideslip angles is retained
x; y; z along the longitudinal, the transversal and the
vertical axis of the vehicle or of the wheel af ˆ df arctan‰…V ‡ a
r†=UŠ …13†

1 ar ˆ dr arctan‰…V b
r†=UŠ : …14†

Introduction
Considerable efforts have been invested recently in the
development of four-wheel-steering (4WS) vehicles, aim-
ing to improve the manoeuvring ability and the safety of
operation of vehicles.
The following are the typical models of 4WS vehi-
cles that are most frequently used in the literature
[10, 8, 6, 7, 1]:
Model I. A 2 degrees-of-freedom linear model (bicycle
model) that retains the lateral velocity V and the yaw
angular velocity r as degrees-of-freedom. The equations of
motion for this model are written as follows
m…U
r ‡ dV=dt† ˆ Fyf ‡ Fyr …
Iz
…dr=dt† ˆ a
Fyf b
Fyr : …
Each one of the lateral forces appearing in the above
equations is a linear function of the sideslip angle of the
respective wheel, the linearity coef®cient being the cor-
nering stiffness of the tire
Fyf ˆ Cf
af …
Model II makes use of the assumptions
d1 ˆ d2 ˆ df …15†
d3 ˆ d4 ˆ dr …16†
dr ˆ k
df : …17†
The above two models neglect two important phenomena:
(a) The front wheel steer angle df and the rear wheel steer
angle dr do not depend only on the steering wheel
angle hs but also on the speed with which the driver of
a vehicle changes the angle hs , that is, they also depend
on dhs =dt.
1† (b) The resultant Fy (taken in the centre of gravity of the
vehicle) of all the transversal forces Fyj applied on the
2† wheels of the vehicle (reaction forces contained in the
road plan), gives a component Fyx along the longitu-
dinal axis of the vehicle that may take a negative value
and has an impact on the fuel consumption of the
vehicle.
The authors of this paper elaborated a model more so-
3† phisticated than either of the previous ones, that takes into
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 66 (2001)

consideration the above two phenomena. This model will This system of equations is derived from the general
be called ``Model III'' throughout this paper and will be equations of motion given in bibliography [12, 4, 11] by
presented in the following paragraphs. applying the above assumptions.
Given the fact, that the driver of the vehicle chooses the
2 value of the forward velocity U, U is not an unknown.
Dynamic model III Consequently the unknowns in the system of equations of
motion are reduced to three, the lateral velocity V, the
2.1 rolling velocity p and the yaw velocity r.
Assumptions
2.3
Model III was elaborated on the basis of the following
Total forces and total moments
262 general principles and assumptions:
The total forces and total moments that ®gure in the
(a) The dynamic model of a 4WS vehicle must be able to second members of the equations of motion are computed
take into consideration all the physical phenomena by use of the following relations
that are related to the motion of the vehicle, included X X
the phenomenon of the lateral and the longitudinal ‰Fx Š ˆ ‰Fj
sin dj Š …22†
weight transfer. X X
‰Fy Š ˆ ‰Fj
cos dj Š …23†
(b) The dynamic model must be as simple as possible, X
retaining no more degrees of freedom than it is nec- ‰Mx Š ˆ …ms
g
hra Kroll †
u Droll
p …24†
essary. This is favourable to a fast solution of the X
equations of motion. ‰Mz Š ˆ a
…F1
cos d1 ‡ F2
cos d2 †
(c) The chassis of the vehicle is considered to be rigid.
(d) The wheels of the vehicle are considered to remain all b
…F3
cos d3 ‡ F4
cos d4 †
time in contact with the ground. ‡ tf
…F2
sin d2 ‡ F4
sin d4 †
(e) Without sacri®cing the accuracy of the model, we
tr
…F1
sin d1 ‡ F3
sin d3 † : …25†
consider that the body of the vehicle is kinetically
equivalent to the sprung mass and the two un-sprung
masses of the front and rear suspensions. These three 2.4
masses are interconnected by the roll axis of the ve- Sideslip angles of the wheels
hicle, the later being de®ned as the axis that joins the The sideslip angle of each wheel is considered to be a
front roll centre to the rear roll centre. function of its steer angle. We have the following four
(f) The centre of mass G of the vehicle is coincident with relations
the origin of the axis system O; the vehicle is sym- a1 ˆ d1 arctan‰…V ‡ a
r†=…U ‡ tf
r†Š …26†
metric about the x±z plane. Consequently the inertia
product Ixy ˆ 0. a2 ˆ d2 arctan‰…V ‡ a
r†=…U tf
r†Š …27†
(g) The vehicle is moving on a smooth road. Consequently a3 ˆ d3 arctan‰…b
r V†=…U ‡ tr
r†Š …28†
the heave velocity andPthe pitchPvelocity are zero,
W ˆ q ˆ 0, and also ‰Fz Š ˆ ‰My Š ˆ 0. a4 ˆ d4 arctan‰…b
r V†=…U tr
r†Š …29†
(h) The total mass of the vehicle is the sum of the Given the de®nition of our model, we can assume, as in
sprung mass ms and the un-sprung mass mu . The co- model II, that
ordinates of the centre of the sprung mass are (0, 0, d1 ˆ d2 ˆ df …15†
hs ) and, obviously, the rolling velocity p and the
pitching velocity q have a meaning only for the d3 ˆ d4 ˆ dr : …16†
sprung mass.
2.5
2.2 Tire model
Equations of motion In our model we make use either of the CALSPAN tire
Referring to the table de®ning the symbols used in this model or of the magic formula tire model [2, 9]. The magic
paper, we will write, in the time domain, the equations of formula tire model is the more accurate tire model now
motion for model III as follows available [5].
X 2.6
m
…dU=dt V
r† ‡ ms
hs
p
r ˆ ‰Fx Š …18† Weight transfers
X
m
…dV=dt ‡ U
r† ‡ ms
hra
…dp=dt† ˆ ‰Fy Š The longitudinal and the transversal weight transfers are
taken into account in the computation of the normal
…19† reaction forces of the road on a wheel.
X The longitudinal weight transfer is due to the acceler-
Ixs
…dp=dt† ‡ ms
hra
…dV=dt ‡ U
r† ˆ ‰Mx Š ation or to the deceleration of the vehicle and is given by
…20† WL ˆ …ms
g
Ax
h ‡ muf
g
Ax
huf
X
Iz
r ˆ ‰Mz Š : …21† ‡ Mur
g
Ax
hur †=2L : …30†
K. N. Spentzas et al.: Dynamics of four-wheel-steering vehicles

The value of Ax in the above relation must be entered as 2.8

positive for an accelerating vehicle and negative for a de- Steer angles of the wheels
celerating vehicle. In the light of the results presented in a previous paper
The transversal weight transfer consists of three com- [13], the steering wheel angles are considered to be linear
ponents, the transversal weight transfer due to body roll functions not only of the steering wheel angle hs , but also
Wb , the transversal weight transfer due to the height of the of dhs =dt
roll centre Wr and the transversal weight transfer due to
df ˆ k1f
hs ‡ k2f
…dhs =dt† …43†
the height of the un-sprung mass Wu . Consequently the
front and rear transversal weight transfers are dr ˆ k1r
hs ‡ k2r
…dhs =dt† : …44†
WTf ˆ Wbf ‡ Wrf ‡ Wuf …31† In the traditional method of steering a vehicle by a steering
wheel, the driver decides on the values of k1f and k2f . The 263
WTr ˆ Wbr ‡ Wrr ‡ Wur : …32†
designer of the 4WS vehicle decides on the values of k1r
Each one of the terms ®guring in the last two equations and k2r , either by giving a ®x value to them or by providing
can be computed from the following relations a adequate algorithm (materialised by a steering system
Wbf ˆ ms …dV=dt ‡ U
r†
hra
cos u controller) that provides the optimum values for k1r and
k2r as functions of k1f and k2f .
 …Kf =Kroll †
…1=2tf † …33†
Wbr ˆ ms …dV=dt ‡ U
r†
hra
cos u 3
Numerical evaluation of model III by comparison
 …Kf =Kroll †
…1=2tr † …34† to models I and II
Wrf ˆ ms …dV=dt ‡ U
r†
…b=`†
…hf =2tf † …35† In the following numerical application we consider a ve-
hicle moving along a given trajectory with a forward ve-
Wrr ˆ ms …dV=dt ‡ U
r†
…a=`†
…hr =2tr † …36† locity U and a tolerance of 1:5 m. The trajectory used
Wuf ˆ muf …dV=dt ‡ U
r†
…hf =2tf † …37† here is de®ned by the following generalised kinematical
relation [14]
Wur ˆ mur …dV=dt ‡ U
r†
…hr =2tr † : …38†
tan…df af † tan…dr ar † ˆ `=R cos b : …45†
2.7 We solve the equations of motion by the 4th order Runge±
Normal reaction forces on the wheels Kutta algorithm and obtain the following functions of
Given the computation of the weight transfers, we can time: the lateral acceleration Ay , the lateral velocity V, the
compute the normal reaction forces on the wheels as fol- yaw velocity r, the sideslip angle b and the projection Fyx ,
lows on the longitudinal axis x of the vehicle, of the resultant
(taken in the centre of gravity of the vehicle) of all the
Fzfo ˆ m
g
b=2` ‡ WL ‡ WTf …39† transversal forces Fy applied on the wheels of the vehicle
Fzfi ˆ m
g
b=2` ‡ WL WTf …40† (reaction forces contained in the road plane).
Moreover we make use of the Box optimisation algo-
Fzro ˆ m
g
a=2` WL ‡ WTr …41†
rithm and determine the optimum values of the four co-
Fzri ˆ m
g
a=2` WL WTr : …42† ef®cients k1f , k2f , k1r , k2r that minimise the sideslip angle b

Fig. 1. Variation with time of the lateral

velocity of the vehicle (simulation results
by model I in mixed line, by model II in
dashed line, by model III in full line)
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 66 (2001)

264

Fig. 2. Variation with time of the lateral

acceleration of the vehicle (simulation results
by model I in mixed line, by model II in
dashed line, by model III in full line)

Fig. 3. Variation with time of the yaw velocity

of the vehicle (simulation results by model I in
mixed line, by model II in dashed line,
by model III in full line)

of the vehicle and also render the value of the resultant Fyx df ˆ k1f
hs ‡ k2f
…dhs =dt† …43†
non-negative.
dr ˆ k1r
hs ‡ k2r
…dhs =dt† : …44†
In Figs. 1±5, we present the functions of time V, Ay , r, b
and Fyx computed by our model (model III) and also the The parameters k1f , k2f , k1r , k2r are optimised by a math-
respective functions computed by models I and II. By ematical algorithm that renders minimum the sideslip
comparing these results we can conclude on the superi- angle b of the vehicle and also assures that, the resultant
ority of model III for the application presented here. (taken in the centre of gravity of the vehicle) of all the
transversal forces applied on the wheels of the vehicle
4 (reaction forces contained in the road plane), give a
Conclusions component Fyx along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle
In this paper we presented an optimised 3 degrees-of- that takes a non negative value.
freedom non-linear model of four-wheel-steering vehicles We considered a vehicle negotiating a curve at con-
that retains as variables the lateral velocity V, the rolling stant speed and computed all the motion functions by
velocity p and yaw velocity r. This model considers the our model (model III), by the bicycle model (model I)
steer angle of the front wheels df and the steer angle of the and by a non-linear three degrees-of-freedom model
rear wheels dr as linear functions of the steering wheel (model II) that considers the rear wheel steer angle as
angle hs and of dhs =dt proportional to the front wheel steer angle. Comparison
K. N. Spentzas et al.: Dynamics of four-wheel-steering vehicles
of the results for that case testi®es for the superiority of
model III.
References
1. Ackermann J, Sienel W (1993) Robust yaw damping of cars
with front and rear wheel steering. IEEE Trans. Con. Syst.
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265
Fig. 4. Variation with time of the sideslip
angle of the vehicle (simulation results by
model I in mixed line, by model II in dashed
line, by model III in full line)
Fig. 5. Variation with time of the projection,
on the vehicle's longitudinal axis, of the
resultant of all the forces that are contained in
the tire-road plane and are applied on the
wheels (simulation results by model I in
mixed line, by model II in dashed line,
by model III in full line
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