Vehicle longitudinal motion modeling for nonlinear control

The problem of modeling vehicle longitudinal motion is addressed for front wheel propelled vehicles. The chassis dynamics are modeled using relevant fundamental laws taking into account aerodynamic effects and road slop variation. The longitudinal slip, resulting from tire deformation, is captured through Kiencke's model. A highly nonlinear model is thus obtained and based upon in vehicle longitudinal motion simulation. A simpler, but nevertheless accurate, version of that model proves to be useful in vehicle longitudinal control. For security and comfort purpose, the vehicle speed must be tightly regulated, both in acceleration and deceleration modes, despite unpredictable changes in aerodynamics efforts and road slop. To this end, a nonlinear controller is developed using the Lyapunov design technique and formally shown to meet its objectives i.e. perfect chassis and wheel speed regulation. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.