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Developing an Analytical model that estimates tyre forces using a least

squares method

Article  in  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part I Journal of Systems and Control Engineering · September 2012
DOI: 10.1177/0959651812451685

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Original Article

Proc IMechE Part I:

J Systems and Control Engineering
226(9) 1193–1207
Developing an analytical tyre model Ó IMechE 2012
Reprints and permissions:
that estimates tyre forces using a least sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0959651812451685

squares method pii.sagepub.com

Mohsen Bayani Khaknejad, Amir Ali Janbakhsh,

Arash Keshavarz and Reza Kazemi

Abstract
The use of control systems, especially vehicle dynamic control systems, is increasing at a remarkable rate. A key para-
meter that affects the performance of a vehicle dynamic control system is the interaction forces between the tyre and
the road since these forces determine the acceleration, braking and steering properties of a car. Consequently, the accu-
rate estimate of these forces is highly desired. Technical limitations and cost considerations mean that it is standard prac-
tice to estimate this data instead of performing measurements. Since available tyre models are generally an algebraic
representation of the actual tyre and neglect variations in road conditions and uncertainties, an improved model for vehi-
cle dynamic control applications is required. This paper proposes a tyre model which is formulated based on the least
squares method and variable exponential forgetting estimation. The proposed estimator calculates tyre forces using
information obtained from the sensors in a vehicle dynamic control system. The performance and robustness of the pro-
posed tyre model is evaluated via virtual handling simulations in ADAMS software.

Keywords
Tyre dynamic modelling, estimation, variable exponential forgetting factor, vehicle dynamic control

Date received: 20 January 2012; accepted: 17 May 2012

Introduction focus in this article is on the estimation of tyre forces in

The use of control systems, especially vehicle dynamic
control (VDC) systems, is increasing at a remarkable
rate. The control commands in these systems correct a
vehicle’s direction and maintain its stability by applying
forces in the lateral and longitudinal directions. These
forces are applied in the area of contact between the tyre
and the road and cause the vehicle to move, change the
direction of movement or stop. Hence, identifying these
tyre forces is of major importance in VDC applications.
The direct measurement of tyre forces using sensors is
complicated and technical limitations and high costs
make it impractical to implement in cars. The standard
practice in this regard is to calculate tyre forces using
analytical approaches, usually using virtual tyre models.
Several tyre models that can be applied to estimate tyre
forces have been reported in the literature, however,
they tend to be limited to situations where the contact
forces are not excessive and the tyre dimensions do not
change drastically. These tyre models are usually used
to analyse handling and ride comfort problems. Our
handling problems and its application area is VDC.
Most tyre models proposed for handling analyses
are analytic experimental models, in which the model
parameters are measured in the laboratory and then
written as mathematical equations. The high depen-
dence of these models on road and vehicle conditions
causes loss of precision when tackling uncertainties in
severe manoeuvres. For instance, road surface condi-
tion can significantly affect the dynamic parameters of
the model and usually the results measured on wet and
dry roads are different. In addition, the characteristics
of a tyre’s performance change in slipping conditions.
The existing tyre models include Calspan, Pacejca,
R&D Center of Advanced Vehicle Systems, K.N. Toosi University of
Technology, Iran
Corresponding author:
Mohsen Bayani Khaknejad, R&D Center of Advanced Vehicle Systems,
K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Email: msn.bayani@yahoo.com
1194 Proc IMechE Part I: J Systems and Control Engineering 226(9)

Segel and Fiala.1–3 Considering that dynamic data for implemented to evaluate the response of a dynamic sys-
a vehicle such as yaw rate, wheel speed, body longitudi- tem and derive controller or estimator rules in control
nal and lateral accelerations and steering angle are applications. In this research, a seven-degree-of-freedom
available from current VDC sensors, we will use this (7DOF) car model (body longitudinal, lateral and yaw
data to estimate the planar forces acting between the motions and spin of the four wheels) is implemented to
road and the tyre. design a tyre force estimator, as is shown in Figure 1.
In 1993, Huang et al.4 performed a study to identify To write the equations of motion of the system we
and estimate vehicle parameters using a gradient consider the free-body diagram of the vehicle as illu-
method. In 1996, Gustafson5 designed an estimator of strated in Figure 1. The equations can be written as
the friction coefficient between tyre and road using
wheel slip data. In that research, which was part of the 1    
v_x = rvy + Fxfl + Fxfr cosðdÞ  Fyfl + Fyfr
Local Traffic Control System and Automatic Driver m
Assistant Control System project in Sweden, the fric- sinðdÞ + Fxrr + Fxrl 
tion coefficient was calculated and estimated via vari- 1    
ous methods such as a recursive least square (RLS) v_y = rvx + Fxfl + Fxfr sinðdÞ + Fyfl + Fyfr
m
linear filter, marginalized likelihood ratio exam and a cosðdÞ + Fyrr + Fyrl 
bank of parallel RLS filters. In 2001, Kunsoo and 
Joonyoung6 estimated the lateral forces acting on a tyre 1    
r_ = Fxfl + Fxfr Lf sinðdÞ + Fyfl + Fyfr
using a Kalman filter. In 2003, Carlson and Gerdes7 Izz
published an article in which they used a non-linear esti-  
Lf cosðdÞ  Fyrl + Fyrr Lr
mator to identify a tyre’s effective radius and its longi-
  Tf   Tf
tudinal slip coefficient using ABS and GPS sensors. In + Fxfr  Fxfl cosðdÞ + Fyfl  Fyfr
2006 Tanelli and Savaresi8 estimated the maximum tyre 2 2

friction coefficient obtained in contact with a road sur- Tr
sinðdÞ + ðFxrr  Fxrl Þ ð1Þ
face. They evaluated the proposed method under the 2
conditions that the tyre either slips or it purely rotates.
Li et al.9 introduced an algorithm to estimate tyre With reference to Figure 2, equations pertaining to
forces. They simulated the model using the hardware in four degrees of freedom of the wheels can be obtained as
the loop method and evaluated the robustness of the Ji v_ i = Fxi 3 Rwi + Ti  Tbi  TRolli i = 1, 2, 3, 4
system under different road conditions.
ð2Þ

Modelling and validation where TRoll is the rolling resistant torque, which
appears due to hysteresis losses and is calculated using
Using virtual models in the process of developing vehicle equation (3)
systems is standard practice in the automotive industry.
The virtual and mathematical models are normally TRolli = fr 3 Fzi 3 Rwi i = 1, 2, 3, 4 ð3Þ

Figure 1. The seven-DOF vehicle model.

Bayani Khaknejad et al. 1195

Table 1. Degrees of freedom of the subsystems of the car

model in ADAMS software.

DOF Subsystem

62 Front suspension assembly with anti-roll bar and

front tyres
116 Rear suspension assembly and rear tyres
8 Steering subsystem
22 Power train with engine block and front differential
6 Car body

Figure 2. Free-body diagram of wheel.

where fr is the rolling resistant coefficient; its value lies

in the range between 0.01 and 0.02 for radial tyres used Figure 3. Body roll angle versus body lateral acceleration
on a passenger car.10 during the CRC manoeuvre.
In this research we make use of a full-vehicle model
of a reference car with 214 degrees of freedom in
ADAMS/Car software, to evaluate the performance of
the proposed tyre model. By virtual modelling in
ADAMS/Car we can overcome some of the problems
created by making engineering simplifications and thus
have access to precise and reliable models. The created
model represents a sedan car equipped with a
McPherson suspension at the front and a torsion beam
axle at the rear of the car. The tyre model implemented
in this model is the PAC2002 model which is a version
of the magic formula model and is the state-of-the-art
for modelling tyre–road interaction forces in vehicle
dynamics applications. Actually, it can be considered
to be an advanced version of the Pacejca tyre model.
The PAC2002 model has proven to be applicable to
car, truck and aircraft tyres provided that the camber Figure 4. Steering angle versus body lateral acceleration during
(inclination) angle with respect to the road does not the CRC manoeuvre.
exceed 15°.1,2 In this research, the PAC2002 model is
used as a benchmark to evaluate the performance of
the proposed model. More details about the creation reference car. Figure 3 shows the body roll angle as a
and validation of the models can be found in Bayani function of lateral acceleration and in Figure 4 the slope
Khaknejad.11 The degrees of freedom of the sub- of the curve in a plot of steering angle against body lat-
systems of the ADAMS model are listed in Table 1. eral acceleration shows the understeering behavior of
In order to correlate the ADAMS model results with the car during the manoeuvre.
the experimental results of the reference car, outputs of
ADAMS simulations are compared with road test data.
Accordingly, a constant radius cornering (CRC) man- Estimator design
oeuvre on a road with a 35 m radius is considered. The
results show an acceptable correlation (in the domain Parameter estimation is an effective approach to over-
of this research) between the virtual model and the come unwanted errors when dealing with systems
1196 Proc IMechE Part I: J Systems and Control Engineering 226(9)

containing linear or non-linear parametric uncertain- The logic behind this is that old data is the result of pre-
ties. It is possible to perform parameter estimation via vious values of parameters and in order to estimate the
online or offline approaches. Offline parameter estima- new value of parameters, the weight of old data with
tion methods are useful, for example, for the estimation regard to new data must be reduced. Accordingly, we
of unknown constant parameters prior to the start of a introduce a weighting coefficient that decreases expo-
manoeuvre when sufficient time is available for the esti- nentially over time. The main idea here is to minimize
mation process. On the other hand, to estimate variable the error function with respect to â(t)15
parameters that change during a manoeuvre, online ðt  ðt 
parameter estimation methods are implemented. 2
J= exp  l(r)dr ky(s)  W(s)^
a(t)k ds ð8Þ
Noting the importance of tyre force accuracy on the 0 s
VDC systems performance and considering that these
forces can fluctuate instantly during vehicle man- where l(r) is the forgetting coefficient and always has a
oeuvres, it is clear that an online estimation approach non-negative value. In order to estimate the values of
must be taken to identify the instant value of tyre â(t), we set the derivative of equation (8) with respect
forces. to â(t) equal to zero
One of the basic estimation methods is least squares
(LS) estimation. An extensive literature exists on this ∂J d
= 0 ! ½^a = P(t)WT e ð9Þ
topic and in particular there are numerous reported a
∂^ dt
attempts to improve and optimize the performance of
where P(t) is the estimation gain and is defined as
the LS method. One promising route to these objectives
is to use gradient and non-gradient methods.12–14  ðt 1
d 1
Parameter estimation is performed based on calcu- PðtÞ = WT ðrÞWðrÞdr ! ½P 
lating the unknown parameters using measurable sys- 0 dt
tem variables. Hence, an estimation mathematical = l(t)P1 + WT (t)W(t) ð10Þ
model is needed to represent the relation between
unknown parameters and available data. A general In practice, it is more convenient to rewrite equation
model to estimate parameters is the linear parameteri- (10) in the form of equation (11) in order to facilitate
zation model which can be written as the formulation of the system in the calculation process
y(t) = W(t)a ð4Þ d
½P = l(t)P  PWT (t)W(t)P ð11Þ
where the n-dimensional vector y represents the output dt
of the system, the m-dimensional vector a contains the In online estimation, we need to define the initial val-
unknown parameters of the system and the (n3m) ues of the parameters and the gain matrix. The initial
matrix W consists of the measurable or available sig- value of P must be chosen as large as possible with
nals of the system. In order to form a relation for the respect to noise sensitivity considerations. We choose
estimated parameters, â, equation (5) is introduced, P(0) in the form of a diagonal matrix for the sake of
where ŷ(t) is the predicted output in time t simplicity15
y^(t) = W(t)^
a(t) ð5Þ
Pð0Þ = 1000
The difference between measured and predicted out- 2 3
5 0 0 0 0 0 0
puts is considered to be the prediction error 60 5 0 0 0 0 0 7
6 7
60 0 5 0 0 0 0 7
e(t) = y^(t)  y(t) ð6Þ 6 7
3660 0 0 5 0 0 0 7 7
The prediction error is related to the parameter esti- 60 0 0 0 50, 000 0 0 7
6 7
mation error through equation (7) 40 0 0 0 0 50, 000 0 5
0 0 0 0 0 0 10, 000
a  Wa = W~
e = W^ a ð7Þ
where ã is the parameter estimation error. Measuring In order to study the convergence and stability of the
the elements of y and W during the process yields a set proposed estimator we solve the equations for the error
of equations in the form of equation (4). To achieve the in the parameters and the gain matrix, which leads to
goal of estimation, these equations must be solved in  ðt 
term of the unknown variable a. P1 ðtÞ = P1 ð0Þ exp  lðrÞdr
0
ðt  ðt 
LS estimation with variable exponential forgetting + exp  lðrÞdr WT ðsÞWðsÞds ð12Þ
0 s
The estimation of the parameters that vary in the pro-
cess time requires that we implement a method to mini- d  1
P a~ =  lP1 a~ ð13Þ
mize the effect of old data in the estimation process. dt
Bayani Khaknejad et al. 1197

By solving equation (13) the parameter error is We limit the gain matrix P to avoid fluctuation in the
formed as equation (14) and subsequently, substituting estimation error while guaranteeing the speed of esti-
equation (12) into equation (14) yields equation (15) mation. In fact, equation (18) indicates that the forget-
 ðt  ting process is conducted using the l0 coefficient when
a~ðtÞ = exp  lðrÞdr PðtÞP1 ð0Þ~ að 0Þ ð14Þ the magnitude of P is small. On the contrary, when P is
0 large, forgetting is devalued and if it exceeds the upper
 ðt ð s 
limit of k0, the forgetting process is cancelled. Hence, in
a~ðtÞ = P1 ð0Þ + exp lðrÞdr order to limit the gain matrix we correct equation (11)
0 0
1 by defining the following rule
WT ðsÞWðsÞds P1 ð0Þ~
að0Þ ð15Þ

d
½P = lP  PWT WP kPðtÞk4K0 ð19Þ
dt 0 otherwise
Evidently, the convergence of the answer is guaranteed
if we demonstrate that equation (16) is true.
ðt ð s  In order to check the convergence of the estimator
lim exp lðrÞdr WT ðsÞWðsÞds = ‘ ) lim a~ðtÞ = 0 response as regards supplementing equation (19), we
t!‘ 0 t!‘
0 consider the following Lyapunov function
ð16Þ
P1 a~
This condition is spontaneously satisfied when the a, t) = a~T
V(~ ð20Þ
2
signal matrix W is persistently excited. In other words,
a system with persistently excited signals will satisfy Using the derivative of equation (20) we have that
equation (17) which leads to a guaranteed convergence
_ a, t) = 1a~T d P1 a~ + a~T P1 a~
V(~ ð21Þ
ðt 2 dt
lim WT ðrÞWðrÞdr = ‘ ð17Þ

t!‘ 0 d 1 lP1 + WT W kP(t)k4k0

P = ð22Þ
Ðt dt 0 otherwise
On the other hand, the term exp 0 lðrÞdr 51 in
equation (15) demonstrates the convergence of the esti- For the case where |P(t)| . R0, R0 is a positive scalar,
mator response and this term is true if l(t) is defined as the derivative of the Lyapunov function is
a positive coefficient. Defining the forgetting factor, sig-
_ a, t) = a~T P1 a~ = ~
V(~ aT WT e = ~
aT WT (W^
a  y)
nificantly affects the speed of the estimation process as
well as the smoothness of the responses. In other words, aT WT W~
= ~ a ð23Þ
small values of l(t) would lead to a reduced forgetting
behaviour and this can threaten the stability of the con- This indicates that WT W must be positive-definite
vergence or can lead to an inability of the estimator to to ensure that the derivative of the Lyapunov function
follow fluctuating or highly variable parameters. On the is negative-definite. Also, when ||P(t)|| 5 R0 we have
contrary, a larger value of the forgetting factor leads to that
a faster forgetting behaviour which in turn will lead into
a faster variable parameter estimation method. This _ a, t) = 1 a~T (lP1 + WT W)~
V(~ a + a~T P1 a~
2
choice might lead to unwanted and unreal fluctuating
l 1
responses or devalue the role of the estimation gain =  a~T P1 a~ + a~T WT W~
a  a~T WT e
2 2
when dealing with persistently excited signals. Hence, it
is required to define l(t) such that in different exciting l 1
=  a~T P1 a~ + a~T WT W~
a  a~T WT W~a
conditions the appropriate behaviour of the estimator 2 2
can be achieved. Consequently, we choose the forget- l 1
=  a~T P1 a~  a~T WT W~
a ð24Þ
ting coefficient so that when W is persistently excited, 2 2
data forgetting exists and vice versa. Actually, the mag- Considering that WTW is positive-definite and
nitude of the gain matrix P(t) represents the excitement bounded and that P–1 (0) = 1/P0 . 0, we conclude
level of W and indeed the forgetting coefficient can be that P–1 (t) is a positive-definite and bounded matrix
adjusted with respect to the norm of P(t). Accordingly, and consequently the derivative of the Lyapunov func-
we define l(t) as tion in equation (24) is negative-definite. Hence, the
  stability and convergence of the estimator response is
kPk
l(t) = l0 1  ð18Þ guaranteed if W is persistently excited.
k0
With reference to the assumptions above, we call the
where, l0 and k0 are positive constants, illustrating the LS estimation method with variable exponential forget-
maximum forgetting factor and the upper limit of the ting, the bounded gain forgetting (BGF) estimation
gain matrix, respectively method. The main advantage of BGF is the guaranteed
stability and convergence of the results when W is per-
k0 = kP(0)k = 5 3 107 , l0 = 10 sistently excited. Furthermore, the magnitude of the
1198 Proc IMechE Part I: J Systems and Control Engineering 226(9)

gain matrix is always bounded and limited and conse- 1  

r_ = Fxfl + Fxfr Lf sinðdÞ + Fyf Lf cosðdÞ  Fyr Lr
quently regulating the forgetting rate facilitates switch- Izz

ing between a fast parameter tracking in highly varying   Tf Tr
situations to a smooth estimation in steady conditions. + Fxfr  Fxfl cosðdÞ + ðFxrr  Fxrl Þ
2 2
Generally, the main advantage of the BGF method is
ð25Þ
that the estimated parameters are smooth compared
with the ones from the simple LS method. In order to form the components of equation (4) we
consider the following vector of measurable parameters
Tyre force estimation y(t) =
h iT
The tyre model proposed in this paper is a mathemati- Tfr Tfl
ax ay r_ w_ fr  Iw w_ fl  Iw w_ rr  TIwrr w_ rl  TIwrl
cal model which gives the longitudinal and lateral forces
acting between the tyre and the road. The model’s ð26Þ
inputs are the vehicle’s states which are easily obtain-
able from VDC systems: the lateral, longitudinal and where Tii is the sum of the wheel traction, braking and
yaw accelerations of the car body and rotational angu- rolling resistant torques. The vector a(t) contains the
lar acceleration of the wheels (Figure 5). unknown parameters that need to be estimated and
As stated previously, we will use the LS estimation here are chosen as the tyres’ lateral and longitudinal
method with variable exponential forgetting to estimate forces
the forces acting between the tyre and the road. a(t) = ½ Fxfr Fxfl Fxrr Fxrl Fyf Fyr T ð27Þ
Accordingly, we use a seven-DOF model obtained
using equations (1) and (2). Bearing in mind that in By defining the vectors of the known and unknown
most VDC applications we deal with the resultant lat- parameters as equations (26) and (27), respectively, the
eral forces on the rear and front axle and not specifi- signal matrix of W(t) can be written as equation (28)
cally that acting on each wheel, it is plausible to take using the equations of motion of the seven-DOF han-
the resultant lateral forces for each axle in lieu of each dling model.

2 3
cos d cos d 1 1 sin d
6 0 7
6 m m m m m
6 sin d sin d cos d 1 7 7
6 0 0 7
6 m m m m 7
6 L sin d  T 2 cos d L sin d + T 2 cos d Tr Tr 7
6 f Lf cos d r7
L
f f f
6  Iz Iz 7
6 Iz Iz 2Iz 2Iz 7
6 Rw 7
W(t) = 6
6  0 0 0 0 0 7 7 ð28Þ
6 Iw 7
6 Rw 7
6 0  0 0 0 0 7
6 Iw 7
6 7
6 Rw 7
6 0 0  0 0 0 7
6 Iw 7
4 5
0 0 0 R
I
w 0 0
w

wheel. This will in turn simplify the equations for the Considering that here W(t) is persistently excited, the
estimator and the calculation time will decrease. Hence, stability and convergence of the estimator is guaran-
we rewrite the equations as follows teed. In order to estimate the desired parameters, first,
in each step the signal matrix is calculated as a function
1  
of the steering input and the forgetting factor is regu-
ax = Fxfl + Fxfr cosðdÞ  Fyf sinðdÞ + Fxrr + Fxrl
m lated using equations (28) and (18). By substituting
1   these values into equation (19) the gain matrix is calcu-
ay = Fxfl + Fxfr sinðdÞ + Fyf cosðdÞ + Fyr
m lated which in turn is used to calculate the parameter

Figure 5. Tyre model input–output diagram.

Bayani Khaknejad et al.
Table 2. Vehicle parameters.
Parameter
Vehicle total mass
Vehicle yaw moment of inertia
Distance between vehicle’s centre of gravity and front axle
Distance between vehicle’s centre of gravity and rear axle
Front track
Rear track
Earth’s gravitational acceleration
Wheel moment of inertia
Rolling resistance coefficient
Wheel effective radius
estimation error using equation (15). Eventually, the
estimated value of the tyre forces is calculated by sub-
stituting the parameter estimation error vector and the
parameters measured by sensors into equation (7). This
procedure is iterated in each step to obtain a recursive
calculation which gives the estimated values.
Simulations
A full-vehicle model of the reference car in ADAMS/
Car software was implemented to evaluate the perfor-
mance of the proposed estimator. In addition, the pro-
posed estimator was modelled in Matlab/Simulink. For
online estimation, the entire system has to be simulta-
neously simulated and accordingly, one needs to estab-
lish a direct connection between the two programs for
concurrent running. The required sensors for the esti-
mator are defined in ADAMS and are as follows:
 body yaw rate sensor;
 body longitudinal and lateral accelerations;
 steering wheel angle;
 wheels angular velocity;
 wheel spinning torques.
After providing the required sensors and actuators,
the input/output channels and ADAMS/Solver system
files were built and exported into the Matlab/Simulink
toolbox; the files contained the equations and informa-
tion of the dynamic model. During the simulation,
Matlab called the ADAMS/Solver to solve the dynamic
equations for the vehicle motion. In fact, the ADAMS/
Solver acted as the representative of the full-vehicle
model in Matlab/Simulink that calculated the required
outputs given the input data. Table 2 presents the val-
ues of vehicle parameters used in the ADAMS/Car
model.
Results of the simulations
The performance of the proposed estimator was veri-
fied using the results of the simulations; this paper con-
siders three manoeuvres: step steering, braking during a
lane change and a lane change in a m-split road. In the
1199
Symbol Value Unit
m 1050 kg
Izz 1825.2 kg.m2
Lf 1.2247 m
Lr 1.4373 m
Tf 1.4375 m
Tr 1.4375 m
g 9.806 m/s2
Ji 1.4 kg.m2
fr 0.015 -
Rw 0.283 m
step steering manoeuvre, the vehicle starts to depart
from straight line movement in a gradual manner at an
initial velocity of 100 km/h as shown in Figure 6. This
manoeuvre can be considered as a severe handling man-
oeuvre as the lateral acceleration of the car reaches
about 0.7 g. Figures 7 and 8 indicate the results of the
ADAMS tyre model and the proposed estimator. It is
clear from these results that the tyre model proposed in
this paper can calculate tyre forces in both transient
and steady state conditions.
In order to evaluate the performance of the system
in rapidly varying and critical conditions two additional
manoeuvres were considered: first, the road surface var-
ies and second, the tyres slip during braking. In addi-
tion, the considered model vehicle was equipped with a
VDC system16 to allow the performance of the estima-
tor in estimating the tyre forces when a disturbed brake
torque is applied to the wheels using the VDC system to
be probed. In the second manoeuvre, a vehicle with an
initial velocity of 100 km/h moving on a dry road is
steered by the driver to change lanes while simultane-
ously the brake pedal is applied, as shown in Figure 9.
It is clear from the results presented in Figures 10 and 11
that the proposed tyre model can efficiently and accu-
rately estimate the tyre forces, even when considering the
fast varying forces applied by the VDC system. In addi-
tion, to study the effect of different road surface condi-
tions, a single lane change manoeuvre on a road with a
friction coefficient of 0.8 on the right side and 0.3 on the
left side was simulated. The steering input for this man-
oeuvre is depicted in Figure 12; the initial velocity of vehi-
cle was 100 km/h and the driver started to brake after the
first second. Evidently, the performance of the estimator
in calculating the longitudinal and lateral tyre forces is
precise and fast. As shown in Figures 13 and 14, the esti-
mator can follow the force variations both in dry and wet
conditions.
It is clear from the presented results that the para-
meters that significantly influence the obtained results
are the vehicle mass (m), yaw moment of inertia (Iz ),
centre of gravity position (Lf) and wheel track (Tf,r).
The robustness of the proposed estimator was investi-
gated by simulating a single lane change (SLC) man-
oeuvre while the vehicle mass (m), yaw moment of
1200 Proc IMechE Part I: J Systems and Control Engineering 226(9)

Figure 6. Steer input and car body accelerations during the step steer manoeuvre.

Figure 7. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated longitudinal tyre forces during the step steer manoeuvre.
Bayani Khaknejad et al. 1201

Figure 8. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated lateral tyre forces during the step steer manoeuvre.

Figure 9. Steering input and car body accelerations during braking for the lane change manoeuvre.
1202 Proc IMechE Part I: J Systems and Control Engineering 226(9)

Figure 10. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated longitudinal tyre forces during braking for the lane change manoeuvre.

Figure 11. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated lateral tyre forces during braking for the lane change manoeuvre.
Bayani Khaknejad et al. 1203

Figure 12. Steering input and car body accelerations during the lane change manoeuvre on a m-split road.

Figure 13. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated longitudinal tyre forces during the lane change manoeuvre on a m-split road.
1204
Figure 14. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated lateral tyre forces during the lane change manoeuvre on a m-split road.
inertia (Iz) and centre of gravity position (Lf) were
altered by 10% (about 100 kg which is high for this
vehicle segment), 7% and 7%, respectively. The results
of the estimation are presented in Figures 15 and 16.
It can be seen that these uncertainties result in a
maximum error in the estimated values of 3.5% in the
tyre longitudinal force and a maximum error of 14% in
the tyre lateral force. Although the estimated results are
generally acceptable, it is better to compensate the lack
of information by implementing an ancillary system.
For this purpose, using the same estimation approach,
the values of the m, Iz and Lf parameters were esti-
mated in the first seconds of car excitation (movement)
and the results were used in the force estimator for the
rest of the driving sequence.17 Using the proposed para-
meter identifier ensures that the effects of parametric
uncertainties are minimized.
Sensor noise can be considered to be a measurement
error which is common in practice and real-time eva-
luations. In order to evaluate the robustness and flexi-
bility of the system against sensor noise, induced noises
by sensors were modelled as a band-limited Gaussian
white noise. The following sensors were considered to
be sources of noise.
1. Body acceleration sensors: output signals up to
64 Hz with 5% error.18
2. Yaw rate sensor: output signals up to 916 Hz with
4.3% error.18
Proc IMechE Part I: J Systems and Control Engineering 226(9)
3. Wheel speed sensor: output signals up to 1680 Hz
(equal to 200 km/h for the reference car) with 5%
error.18
Depending on the working condition of the VDC,
the maximum working frequency of the VDC actuators
is 50 Hz.18 Hence, the outputs of the sensors were fil-
tered using a low-pass filter tuned to have 50 Hz as the
threshold frequency. The results of SLC manoeuvre
simulations (performed using the ADAMS-Simulink
loop) at an initial velocity of 100 km/h and the data for
noisy sensors are presented in Figures 17 and 18. These
results indicate the robustness and stability of the pro-
posed estimator when they experience noisy inputs.
Conclusions
In this research a tyre model is introduced that calcu-
lates the tyre forces based on mathematical estimation
equations rather than algebraic experimental relations
as is the common approach. The proposed model is
evaluated by its performance in various handling man-
oeuvres and it is compared with one of the most popu-
lar tyre models, PAC2000. The results confirm the
accuracy, speed and robustness of the estimator in nor-
mal and critical conditions as well as conditions that
experience disturbances (disturbed brake toques), para-
metric uncertainties (vehicle inertial parameters), envi-
ronment perturbations (road surface condition) and
Bayani Khaknejad et al. 1205

Figure 15. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated lateral tyre forces during the SLC manoeuvre with parameter uncertainties.

Figure 16. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated longitudinal tyre forces during the SLC manoeuvre with parameter uncertainties.

noisy sensor data. Implementing this analytical tyre identification tests and can significantly reduce the
model can result in lower costs for tyre modelling effects of uncertainties and simplifications.
1206 Proc IMechE Part I: J Systems and Control Engineering 226(9)

Figure 17. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated lateral tyre forces during the SLC manoeuvre with parameter uncertainties.

Figure 18. ADAMS tyre model and the estimated longitudinal tyre forces during the SLC manoeuvre with parameter uncertainties.

Funding
This research received no specific grant from any fund-
ing agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit
sectors.
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Appendix 1
Notation
a unknown parameters vector
â unknown parameters estimation vector
ã unknown parameters estimation error
vector

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