Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Simulated and experimental study of hydraulic

anti-lock braking system using
sliding-mode PWM control
Ming-chin Wu, Ming-chang Shih *

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC
Received 9 June 2000; accepted 2 February 2001

Abstract
Both simulated and experimental studies of an anti-lock braking system are undertaken. A
nonlinear mathematical model of the anti-lock braking system is built and a simulation is
performed. Two sliding-mode controllers, one using pulse width modulation, and the other
switching control, are designed and tested. Comparisons of simulated and experimental results
obtained using these two control methods are discussed. Simulated results were verified on a
test stand. Emergency braking controlled by a standard commercial electric control unit is also
performed on the dynamic test stand and compared with the results of the designed systems.
The proposed mathematical ABS model’s simulated results match experimental data well.
Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sliding-mode control; Pulse width modulation; Switching control; Mathematical model of
ABS

1. Introduction

In the past few decades, anti-lock braking systems and electric control unit (ECU)
controllers of many different designs have been mounted in many types of vehicles.
In general, there are two major advantages of an anti-lock braking system over
conventional brakes: (1) shorter stopping distances on most road surfaces, and

*
Corresponding author. Fax: +886-6-235-2973.
E-mail address: mcshih@mail.ncku.edu.tw (M.-c. Shih).

0957-4158/03/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 5 7 - 4 1 5 8 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 4 9 - 6
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Fig. 1. Adhesion coefficient versus wheel slip curve.

(2) steering control enhancement during hard braking maneuvers. However, both
these phenomena relate very much to ‘‘slip’’, which is defined as

Vv  Vr
S¼ ; ð1Þ
Vv

where S is the slip, Vv the velocity of the vehicle and Vr is the speed of the tire.
In Fig. 1, the relationships between longitudinal coefficient (related to braking
force), lateral coefficient (related to steering control) and slip are clearly described.
As the slip increases from zero, the longitudinal coefficient first ascends and then
proceeds to descend. From Zanten et al. [1], the stopping distance can be shortened
effectively if the slip is kept between 8% and 30%. At the same time, there is also
good steering controllability.
Most anti-lock braking systems employ hydraulic valve control to regulate the
brake pressure during the anti-lock operation. Brake pressure is increased, decreased
or held. The amount of time required to open, close or hold the hydraulic valve is the
key point affecting the brake efficiency and steering controllability. Several results
have been published coupling the ABS problem and the variable-structure system
(VSS) design technique [2,3]. These two papers present the sliding-mode ABS de-
signs, one using pulse width modulation, the other switching control, and obtain
good experimental results on their test stand. However, there is no mathematical
model provided in these papers, nor is there comparison to commercial ECU results.
In this study, a nonlinear mathematical model of a hydraulic pressure modulator is
built to simulate emergency braking on different road surfaces by computer. The
present study also presents the designs for sliding-mode controllers, one using PWM,
the other switching control, both designs working under the assumption of known
wheel slip. The simulated results are verified on a test stand. Further, braking ex-
periments controlled by a typical, commercially available ECU are also undertaken
in this study.
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 333

2. System description

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of the test stand. Fig. 3 is its photograph. The
main components are described briefly as follows:

1. Two flywheels and four water sprays: The flywheels are equipped with rotation en-
coders. Each flywheel consists of two drums mounted on a common shaft. The
two flywheels are each connected by a belt to a shared electric motor. Each drum
presses against a production wheel assembly, and the wheels are driven by the
drums, which simulate a road surface. Not only are four water sprays used to sim-
ulate wet road surfaces but also to simulate the brakes on roads with different sur-
face conditions, e.g., with the left wheels on dry asphalt, and the right wheels on
wet pavement.
2. Two electromagnetic clutches: The clutches are actuated depending on which fly-
wheel, or both flywheels, is going to be driven.
3. One AC induction motor and the driver: The AC motor undertakes the acceleration
of the flywheel. The AC motor driver can provide various driving frequencies in
order to speed up the AC motor smoothly.
4. A downsized and simplified vehicle: This vehicle consists of four suspension assem-
blies, two front disk-brake wheel assemblies, two rear drum-braked wheel assem-
blies, a brake pedal depressed by a pneumatic cylinder, some inertia mass and an
anti-lock braking system including a master cylinder, four calipers, a hydraulic

Fig. 2. Schematic construction of test stand.

334 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Fig. 3. Photograph of the test stand.

modulator and an ECU. Each tire has a toothed wheel mounted on the wheel as-
sembly, rotating identically with respect to the tire, for sensing the tire speed.

Initially, the electromagnetic clutch is let in, accelerating the flywheels and the
tires to test speed via the AC motor. Next, the motor is turned off and the clutch let
out. Then, a pneumatic directional valve is actuated to make the pneumatic cylinder
push the brake pedal. High-pressure brake fluid flows from the master cylinder
through the hydraulic modulator into the calipers. Wheel speed sensors and encoders
provide the wheel and flywheel velocity signal feedback to control the device. Either
the ECU or a computer can be used as the controller. After calculation and com-
parison, the controller sends out control signals to control the corresponding sole-
noid valves inside the hydraulic modulator to prevent tire lockup.

3. Mathematical model

The model of the anti-lock braking system is shown in Fig. 4. The governing
equations are derived as follows under the assumption that there is no leakage in the
system:
(1) Brake pedal: As Fig. 5 shows, when h is very small, the relation between Fp (N)
and Fout (N) is
Fout la
¼  4:2; ð2Þ
Fp lb
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 335

Fig. 4. Anti-lock braking system.

Fig. 5. Free body diagram of a brake pedal.

and
K
Fp ¼ ; ð3Þ
1 þ sp S
therefore
4:2K Fout
F_ out ¼  ; ð4Þ
sp sp
where sp is the time constant and K is the steady-state force.
(2) Vacuum-assisted one-diaphragm power brake: The transfer function can be
described as
336 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Fig. 6. Master cylinder.

Fm Ka
¼ ; ð5Þ
Fout 1 þ sa S
where Ka is the steady-state gain, sa the time constant of power brake and Fm is the
force transferred to the master cylinder (N), and therefore,
Ka Fout  Fm
F_ m ¼ : ð6Þ
sa
(3) Master cylinder: As Fig. 6 shows, the dynamic equation of the master cylinder
is
Fm  100 Am Pm  Cm x_ m ¼ Mm€xm ; ð7Þ

where xm is the displacement of the spool (m), Mm the mass of the piston of the
master cylinder (kg), Pm the oil pressure of the master cylinder (MPa), Cm the
damping coefficient (N m/s), and Am is the cross-sectional area of the master cylinder
(m2 ).
Further

V_m Am x_ m  Q6 þ Q14
P_ m ¼ bm ¼ bm ; ð8Þ
Vm Vm
where P_ m is a derivative of the master cylinder pressure (MPa/s), bm the effective bulk
modulus of the brake line before solenoid valve (N/m2 ), Q14 the oil flow rate from the
pump into the master cylinder (m3 /s), Q6 the oil flow rate into the wheel cylinder (m3 /
s), Vm the oil volume before the solenoid valve (m3 ) and V_m is the derivative of oil
volume before the solenoid valve (m3 /s).
(4) Hydraulic pressure modulator: The pressure modulator is composed of four
pairs of solenoid valves, one brake oil pump and two low-pressure tanks. The oil
pump pumps the brake oil in the low-pressure tank back to the brake line. Each pair
of solenoid valves has three states, which can be described as follows:
(A) Pressure-increase process: The brake oil flows from the master cylinder
through the inlet throttle to the wheel cylinder. If Q6 represents its flow rate, we can
obtain
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Q6 ¼ Cd6 A6 ðPm  Ps Þ 100; ð9Þ
q
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 337

where Cd6 is the inlet discharge coefficient of the throttle, A6 the effective area of the
throttle (m2 ), q the density of brake oil (kg/m3 ) and Ps is the brake oil pressure of the
wheel cylinder (MPa).
(B) Pressure-hold process: During this process, the path between the master and
the slave cylinder is shut off. There is no brake oil flowing into or out of the caliper.
Therefore, the brake pressure of the slave cylinder is kept constant.
Q ¼ 0; Ps ¼ constant: ð10Þ
(C) Pressure-decrease process: The path from the master cylinder to the caliper is
shut off and the path between the wheel cylinder and the low-pressure oil tank is
opened. Brake oil flows through the outlet valve into the low-pressure tank, and the
oil flow rate is
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Q7 ¼ Cd7 A7 ðPs  Plt Þ 100; ð11Þ
q
where Q7 is the volume flow rate out of the wheel cylinder (m3 /s), Cd7 the outlet
discharge coefficient of the throttle, A7 the effective area of the throttle (m2 ) and Plt is
the pressure in the low-pressure tank (MPa).
The effective area of the valve is approached by Eqs. (12) and (13). When the valve
is under the opening process, the effective area Aor is described as
  
Aor ¼ A0 0:5 þ 0:5  tanh ðtopen  topdelay Þ=topslope : ð12Þ
On the contrary, when the valve is under the closing process, the area is described as
  
Aor ¼ A0 0:5  0:5  tanh ðtclose  tcodelay Þ=tcos lope ; ð13Þ
where A0 is the maximum open area of the valve, topslope ; tcoslope are the slopes of the
curves, topdelay ; tcodelay the time delays of the valve actuation and topen ; tclose are the
operation times.
Fig. 7 illustrates the characteristics of these two equations, where the value
(Aor =Ao ) is defined as the open percentage.
(5) Wheel cylinder: Fig. 8 shows the schematic construction of the wheel cylinder.
Assuming that the brake shoe has already touched the brake disk during braking

Fig. 7. Characteristics of the valve: (a) opening process; (b) closing process.
338 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Fig. 8. Wheel cylinder.

(i.e., no delay time due to disk/pad gap), we can derive the dynamic equation as
follows:
100 Ps As  Fbrake  Cs x_ s ¼ Ms€xs ; ð14Þ
where Fbrake is the normal force of the wheel cylinder (N), x_ s and €xs are the velocity
(m/s) and acceleration (m/s2 ) of the piston, Ms the mass of the piston of the wheel
cylinder (kg), Cs the damping coefficient (N m/s) and As is the cross-sectional area of
the wheel cylinder (m2 ).
Further

Kcap  xs if xs P 0;
Fbrake ¼ ð15Þ
0 if xs < 0;

where Kcap is the effective spring constant of the brake shoe (N/m) and xs is the piston
displacement of the wheel cylinder (m).
If the brake oil flows into the wheel cylinder through the inlet throttle, the
pressure derivative (P_ s ) of the wheel cylinder is
V_s ðQ6  As x_ s Þ
P_ s ¼ bs ¼ bs ; ð16Þ
Vs Vs
where P_ s is a derivative of oil pressure inside the wheel cylinder (MPa/s), bs the ef-
fective bulk modulus (MPa) and Vs and V_s are the volume (m3 ) and its derivative
(m3 /s) of the wheel cylinder.
If the brake oil flows out of the wheel cylinder, then
V_s ðQ7 þ As x_ s Þ
P_ s ¼ bs ¼ bs : ð17Þ
Vs Vs
If there is no brake oil flowing into or out of the caliper, the brake pressure change
rate is zero, i.e., it will be constant.
P_ s ¼ 0; Ps ¼ constant: ð18Þ
For simplification, we assume Kcap is approaching infinity and x9 is very close to zero.
Then
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 339

Fig. 9. Low-pressure tank.

xs ¼ 0; x_ s ¼ 0; €xs ¼ 0; Ps As ¼ Fbrake ; ð19Þ

and Eqs. (14) and (15) are simplified as

V_s Q6
P_ s ¼ bs ¼ bs ; ð20Þ
Vs Vs
_Vs Q7
P_ s ¼ bs ¼ bs : ð21Þ
Vs Vs
(6) Low-pressure tank: The low-pressure tank is a temporary place to store the
brake oil coming from the wheel cylinder and is shown in Fig. 9.
Each tank has a spring to push the oil into the oil pump. Let Ksp be the spring
constant and Alt be the cross-sectional area of the tank, then we know

100 Alt Plt  Klt ðxlt þ xlt0 Þ  Clt x_ lt ¼ Mlt€xlt ; ð22Þ

 
V_lt Q 7  A _
x
lt lt  Q 12
P_ lt ¼ blt ¼ blt ð23Þ
Vlt Vlt
and
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
Q12 ¼ Cd12 A12 ðPlt  P13 Þ 100; ð24Þ
q
where blt is the effective bulk modulus of brake line from the solenoid valve to the
check valve 12 (MPa), xlt0 the pre-deflection of the tank spring (m), Clt the damping
coefficient (N m/s), Mlt the mass of the piston (kg), Plt the pressure of the brake oil in
the low-pressure tank (MPa), P_ lt the derivative of the pressure (MPa/s), Vlt and V_lt are
the oil volume (m3 ) and its derivative (m3 /s) of the brake line from solenoid valve to
check valve 12, Q12 the oil flow rate through check valve 12 (m3 /s), Cd12 the dis-
charging coefficient of A12 , A12 the cross-sectional area of the check valve 12 (m2 ) and
P13 is the oil pressure of the chamber of the pump (MPa).
(7) Oil pump: Let Qpump be the pump oil flow rate, we can obtain

V_p ðQ12  Qpump Þ

P_ 13 ¼ bp ¼ bp ; ð25Þ
Vp Vp
340 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

where bp is the effective bulk modulus of the chamber of the pump (MPa), Vp and V_p
are the oil volume (m3 ) and its derivative (m3 /s) of the chamber of the pump.
If Qpump Q12 , then
P13  0; P_ 13  0 and Q14 ¼ Q12 : ð26Þ
(8) Brake torque: Scafer and Howard [4] provided a transfer function for brake
torque and brake pressure,
Tb ðsÞ Kb
¼ ; ð27Þ
Ps ðsÞ 1 þ ð2f=xn ÞS þ ð1=x2n ÞS 2
where Tb ðsÞ is the Laplace transform of brake torque, Ps ðsÞ the Laplace transform of
wheel cylinder pressure, S the Laplace transform operator, 1 the damping ratio, Kb
the torque gain and xn is the natural frequency.
Let
y1 ¼ T_ : ð28Þ
Then
y_ 1 ¼ Kb x2n Ps  x2n T  21xn y1 : ð29Þ
(9) Tractive force between the tire and road surface: Many models are used to
describe the tractive force between tires and road surfaces. In this study, Dugoff’s
model [5] is used to represent the relationship, and the equation is
( Cn S
1Sh i
n S
when C1S < lN
2
;
Ffr ¼ 2 N ð1SÞ Cn S lN ð30Þ
N l  l 4Cn S when 1S > 2 ;

where Ffr is the tractive force between the tire and the road surface (N), Cn the
longitudinal tire stiffness, l the friction coefficient and N is the normal force of the
tire (N).
When the road surface is dry, then
l ¼ l0 ð1  An  Vv  SÞ; ð31Þ
where l0 is the friction coefficient when there is pure rotation and An is the adhesion
reduction coefficient.
If the road surface is wet, then
 
Vv  S
l ¼ l0  exp  ; ð32Þ
Vc
where Vc represents the characteristic speed, which is a constant related to the root
mean square texture height.
(10) Vehicle model
Quarter-car model: Suppose the tire is a uniform rigid body. Then the quarter-car
model is shown in Fig. 10.
The governing equations are:
Tt ¼ Ffr  R; ð33Þ
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 341

Fig. 10. Free body diagram of the tire.

Iw  x_ ¼ Tt  Tb ; ð34Þ
1
x_ ¼ ðTt  Tb Þ; ð35Þ
Iw
Ffr
av ¼  ; ð36Þ
Mv =4
where Tt is the tractive torque (N m), x_ the angular acceleration of the tire (rad/s2 ), Iw
the moment of inertia of the tire (kg m2 ), av the acceleration of vehicle (m/s2 ), Tb the
brake torque (N m), R the radius of the tire (m) and Mv is the vehicle mass (kg).
Moreover,
Z
x ¼ x_  dt þ x0 ; ð37Þ
Z
Vv ¼ av  dt þ Vv0 ; ð38Þ

Vv  R  x
S¼ ; ð39Þ
Vv
Z
Xv ¼ Vv  dt; ð40Þ

where x is the angular velocity of the tire (rad/s), x0 the initial angular velocity of the
tire (rad/s), Vv0 the initial velocity of the vehicle (m/s) and Xv is the stopping distance
(m).

4. Control theorem

In this study, the sliding-mode control theory is adopted to design the controllers
because of its robustness [6]. The sliding-mode index Sslide is defined as

Sslide ¼ Eslip þ k  E_ slip ; ð41Þ

342 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Fig. 11. Phase plane of sliding-mode control.

where Eslip ¼ S   S, S  the target slip and k is a strictly positive constant. E_ slip is the
derivative of Eslip :
dEslip Eslip ðk þ 1Þ  Eslip ðkÞ
E_ slip ¼  ; ð42Þ
dt ts
where ts is the sampling time.
In Fig. 11, the sliding surface Sslide ¼ 0 separates the phase plane into two semi-
planes: one is Sslide > 0 and the other is Sslide < 0. Initially, sliding-mode switching
control laws are adopted in the design of the controller, which give rise to discon-
tinuous control signals and, as a consequence, chattering. In general, smoothing out
the control discontinuity in a thin boundary neighboring the sliding surface can
eliminate chattering. Therefore, another sliding-mode controller using PWM is im-
plemented to take the place of sliding-mode switching control. Figs. 12 and 13 il-

Fig. 12. Switching control decision algorithm.

 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 343

Fig. 13. PWM control decision algorithm.

lustrate the decision algorithms of these two control theorems, where 1 means that
the pressure-increase solenoid valve is maintained in its open, pressure-increase state,
while )1 means that the pressure-decrease solenoid valve is maintained in its open,
pressure-decrease state. If control signal Uo is between 1 and )1, it means that the
pressure-increase state (Uo > 0) or the pressure-decrease (Uo < 0) state is not con-
tinuous, the respective open time being proportional to the absolute value of the
signal Uo .

5. Simulated and experimental results

Fig. 14 shows a block diagram of the anti-lock braking control system. A quarter-
car model and sliding-mode control using switching control or PWM control are
used in the computer simulation. Further, the simulated designs were built and used
in the experiments on the dynamic test stand. During the experiments, only the front
flywheel and thus the two front production wheel assemblies are driven and braked.
One of these is arbitrarily chosen and compared with the mathematical simulation.
Depending on the experiment, the drums are water-sprayed to simulate a road
surface with a low adhesion coefficient. The brake pedal is depressed at around 64
km/h (40 miles/h). All tests are run for a 10 ms sampling period. Pressure of the
compressed air is reduced so that the maximum brake oil pressure is about 10 MPa
and the target slip S  is set to be 0.2.

1. Sliding-mode switching control: Sliding-mode switching control laws are used to

design the controller both in computer simulation and experiments. Fig. 15 illus-
trates the brake on dry pavement by simulation and experiment. Fig. 16 shows the
same test on a wet road surface. There is apparent chattering in the pressure and
slip curves. This phenomenon can be explained by the discontinuous characteris-
tics of the controller; whereby the control signal remains full +1 or )1 even if the
actual slip is already approaching the target slip. Except for chattering, the slip is
 344
M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351
Fig. 14. Block diagram of the anti-lock braking control system.
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 345

Fig. 15. Simulated results using sliding-mode switching control (on dry surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel
speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

Fig. 16. Experimental results using sliding-mode switching control (on dry surface): (a) vehicle speed,
wheel speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

indeed controlled around the target slip. The corresponding curves in simulated
and experimental results have the same tendency, proving that the mathematical
346 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Fig. 17. Simulated results using sliding-mode switching control (on wet surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel
speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

model approaches the real system when the sliding-mode switching controller is
adopted.
2. Sliding-mode PWM control: Sliding-mode PWM control algorithms are used to
design the controller both in computer simulation and experiments. Fig. 17 shows
the brakes on dry road surface by simulation and experiment. Fig. 18 shows the
same tests on a wet road surface. Unlike the chattering in Figs. 15 and 16, slip
curves are smoother because of the implementation of pulse width modulation.
Because of the linear transformation inside the boundary layer, the closer the slip
near the target, the smaller the control signal is. Therefore, slip curve can be con-
trolled more concisely around the target slip. Both simulated and experimental re-
sults show that the PWM control algorithm provides outstanding elimination of
chattering (Figs. 19–22). The agreement of simulated results and experiment re-
sults proves again the accuracy of the proposed ABS mathematical model.
3. ECU control: The ECU as well as all other brake components such as the speed
sensors and the hydraulic modulator used in this study are taken from commer-
cial passenger cars. In order to make the ABS work as it typically works during
real braking situations, all four tires are accelerated to the same initial velocity. At
the beginning of acceleration, control of ABS components is given to the ECU.
Therefore, when the pneumatic cylinder abruptly depresses the brake pedal, the
ECU controls the emergency braking as if on the real road. Because of cost con-
siderations, there is no true vehicle velocity signal transferred into this commercial
ECU. The ECU uses four-wheel speed signals and the ECUs unknown control
algorithms to decide the control signals. Figs. 23 and 24 show the brakes on
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 347

Fig. 18. Experimental results using sliding-mode switching control (on wet surface): (a) vehicle speed,
wheel speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

Fig. 19. Simulated results using sliding-mode PWM control (on dry surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel
speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

dry and wet road surfaces using ECU control. It is obvious that dry surface brak-
ing is much more effective than wet surface braking, dry surface braking being so
348 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Fig. 20. Experimental results using sliding-mode PWM control (on dry surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel
speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

Fig. 21. Simulated results using sliding-mode PWM control (on wet surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel
speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

smooth that there is no intensive pressure variation and slip is controlled to

around 0.2. However, during braking on the wet surface, the hydraulic modulator
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 349

Fig. 22. Experimental results using sliding-mode PWM control (on wet surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel
speed and brake speed; (b) slip.

Fig. 23. Emergency braking results using ECU control (on dry surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel speed and
brake speed; (b) slip.

is over-controlled and slip is in general kept under 0.1, with a more intense pres-
sure variation. It is easy to see that ECU braking results on dry surface are as
350 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351

Fig. 24. Emergency braking results using ECU control (on wet surface): (a) vehicle speed, wheel speed and
brake speed; (b) slip.

good as those of sliding-mode switching control and sliding-mode PWM control.

However, ECU braking results on wet surface are much worse than those of the
other two controllers. Possibly, this phenomenon can be explained by the reduced
vertical forces caused by the downsized test stand leading the ECU to make some
mistaken decisions. Nevertheless, this failure gives evidence of the inflexibility of
the ECU design.

Detailed experimental data about braking times and stopping distances are shown
in Table 1. Although the target slip is set as 0.2 for simplification, in fact, optimal slip
is time varying and difficult to determine during the braking process. Therefore, the

Table 1
Experimental braking data
Control type Road state Braking Stopping Average
time (s) distance (m) acceleration (m/s2 )
Sliding-mode switching Dry 2.15 23.76 )8.27
control
Sliding-mode PWM Dry 2.18 23.82 )8.16
control
Electric control unit Dry 2.09 23.60 )8.51
Sliding-mode switching Wet 2.60 28.20 )6.84
control
Sliding-mode PWM Wet 2.66 28.47 )6.69
control
Electric control unit Wet 5.45 48.43 )3.26
 M.-c. Wu, M.-c. Shih / Mechatronics 13 (2003) 331–351 351

stopping distances in Table 1 are merely for reference and should not be considered a
dominant criterion for evaluating the controllers.

6. Conclusion

Although a vehicle ABS braking dynamic control system is nonlinear and time
varying, the nonlinear mathematical model constructed in this study is shown to
approach real braking very well. Both simulated and experimental results imply that
effective regulation of wheel slip during emergency braking can be achieved by im-
plementation of sliding-mode control. Elimination of chattering can be achieved by
implementation of pulse width modulation. Comparing the braking results of a
commercial ECU and the two above-designed controllers, it is seen that the con-
trollers designed in this study have superior braking performance on both dry and
wet road surfaces.

7. Acknowledgment

The support provided by National Science Center of ROC (NSC 86-2212-E006-

083) is greatly appreciated.

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[4] Scafer TS, Howard DW, Carp RW. Design and performance considerations for passenger car anti-skid
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[5] Dugoff H, Fancher PS, Segel L. An analysis of tire traction properties and their influence on vehicle
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