A Modular Model for Determining Cornering Resistance of Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Driven by legislation and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the road-freight transport sector is transitioning to zero-emission trucks. To assess, design, and control these vehicles, more accurate energy consumption models are essential. This paper presents a vehicle model that provides the battery-to-wheel consumption of a truck, including the often-overlooked cornering resistance. The model is modular, thereby enabling the analysis of longer vehicle combinations with multiple articulation points. Solving the model numerically for various cornering situations, which are specified by forward velocity and corner radius, reveals that the total cornering resistance can be in the order of tens of kWs. Applying the model to test data obtained from a 29t tractor semi-trailer on an oval track shows that including the cornering resistance reduces the modelling error significantly. Secondly, in an analysis of a 32t tractor semi-trailer on the public road, the cornering losses are determined to represent 7.5% of the total energy required for traction.