Studyon Evaluation Methods for Lateral Stability of High-Speed Trains

Taking a high-speed train in China as an example,using computer simulation technology and comparing with the test data,the three current methods including linear stability analysis method,nonlinear stability analysis method and the field testing criterion are studied to evaluate stability of high-speed trains.A new stability evaluation method is proposed which can be used to evaluate lateral stability of high-speed vehicle based on the codes of UIC 515and UIC 518.From the viewpoint of taking the most unfavorable track conditions into account and improving the safety margin,the new method uses the root mean square of bogie lateral acceleration as a criterion to evaluate the lateral stability of high-speed trains.Numerical example shows that the proposed method not only considers the forced vibration caused by track irregularities in the actual practice,but also takes the instability self-excited vibration into account,so it can realize early warning of bogie slight unstable oscillation,meanwhile the method itself does not involve complex algorithms which has the possibility of engineering applications.

Lateral Stability Improvement of Car-Trailer Systems Using Active Trailer Braking Control

An active trailer braking controller to improve the lateral stability of car-trailer systems is presented. The special and complex structures of these types of vehicles exhibit unique unstable motion behavior, such as the trailer swing, jack-knifing and rollover. These unstable motion modes may lead to fatal accidents. The effects of passive mechanical parameters on the stability of car-trailer systems have been thoroughly investigated. Some of the passive parameters, such as the center of gravity of the trailer, may be drastically varied during various operating conditions. Even for an optimal design of a car-trailer system, based on a specific passive parameter set, the lateral stability cannot be guaranteed. In order to improve the lateral stability of car-trailer systems, an active trailer braking controller is designed using the Linear Quadratic Regular （LQR） technique. To derive the controller, a vehicle model with 3 Degrees Of Freedom （DOF） is developed to represent the car-trailer system. A single lane-change maneuver has been simulated to examine the performance of the controller and the numerical results are compared with those of the baseline design. The benchmark investigation indicates that the optimal controller based on the LQR technique can effectively improve the high-speed lateral stability of the car-trailer system.

Stability-Considered Lane Keeping Control of Commercial Vehicles Based on Improved APF Algorithm

Regarding the lane keeping system,path tracking accuracy and lateral stability at high speeds need to be taken into account especially for commercial vehicles due to the characteristics of larger mass,longer wheelbase and higher mass center.To improve the performance mentioned above comprehensively,the control strategy based on improved artificial potential field(APF)algorithm is proposed.In the paper,time to lane crossing(TLC)is introduced into the potential field function to enhance the accuracy of path tracking,meanwhile the vehicle dynamics parameters including yaw rate and lateral acceleration are chosen as the repulsive force field source.The lane keeping controller based on improved APF algorithm is designed and the stability of the control system is proved based on Lyapunov theory.In addition,adaptive inertial weight particle swarm optimization algorithm(AIWPSO)is applied to optimize the gain of each potential field function.The co-simulation results indicate that the comprehensive evaluation index respecting lane tracking accuracy and lateral stability is reduced remarkably.Finally,the proposed control strategy is verified by the HiL test.It provides a beneficial reference for dynamics control of commercial vehicles and enriches the theoretical development and practical application of artificial potential field method in the field of intelligent driving.

Improvement of the lateral stability of vehicle suspension incorporating inerter

As a newly proposed two terminals mechanical element, inerter has been successfully applied in vehicle suspension system to improve its vertical vibration isolation performance. The novelty of this paper is to explore the advantages of lateral stability of vehicle suspension by the use of inerter element. A full car model considering the steering condition is built, and the standard fishhook steering input is chosen to test the lateral stability of the suspension system. By considering the ride comfort performance and the rollover resistance performance, three basic suspension layouts incorporating inerter element are optimized by means of genetic algorithm. Constraints of the suspension working space and road holding ability are also taken into account during the optimization. Two steering input condition, namely the sine-steer input and the fishhook steer input are performed to evaluate the vehicle suspension performance. Results show that, the ride comfort and the lateral stability of the vehicle suspension system can be synchronously improved by including the inerter element.

Integrated energy-oriented lateral stability control of a four-wheelindependent-drive electric vehicle

Improving the energy efficiency of an electric vehicle(EV) is an effective approach to extend its driving range. This paper proposes an integrated energy-oriented lateral stability controller(IESC) for a four-wheel independent-drive EV(4 WID-EV) to optimize its energy consumption while maintaining vehicular stability during cornering. The IESC is a hierarchical controller with two levels. The high-level decision-making controller determines the virtual control inputs, i.e., the desired additional yaw moment and total wheel torque, while the low-level controller allocates the motor torques according to the virtual control inputs.In the high-level controller, the desired additional yaw moment is first calculated using a linear quadratic regulator(LQR) to minimize the control expenditure. Meanwhile, a stability weighting factor(SWF) based on phase plane analysis is proposed to adjust the additional yaw moment, which can reduce the additional energy consumption caused by the mismatch between the reference model and the actual vehicle. In addition to the yaw moment, the desired total wheel torque is calculated using a proportional-integral(PI) controller to track the desired longitudinal velocity. In the low-level controller, a multi-objective convex-optimization problem is established to optimize the motor torque by minimizing the energy consumption and considering the tire-road frictional limit and motor saturation. A globally optimal solution is obtained by using an active-set method. Finally,double-lane change(DLC) simulations are conducted using Car Sim and MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed controller achieves great lateral stability control performance and reduces the energy consumption by5.23% and 2.95% compared with the rule-based control strategy for high-and low-friction DLC maneuvers, respectively.

Lateral stability regulation of intelligent electric vehicle based on model predictive control

Purpose–This paper studies the lateral stability regulation of intelligent electric vehicle(EV)based on model predictive control(MPC)algorithm.Design/methodology/approach–Firstly,the bicycle model is adopted in the system modelling process.To improve the accuracy,the lateral stiffness of front and rear tire is estimated using the real-time yaw rate acceleration and lateral acceleration of the vehicle based on the vehicle dynamics.Then the constraint of input and output in the model predictive controller is designed.Soft constraints on the lateral speed of the vehicle are designed to guarantee the solved persistent feasibility and enforce the vehicle’s sideslip angle within a safety range.Findings–The simulation results show that the proposed lateral stability controller based on the MPC algorithm can improve the handling and stability performance of the vehicle under complex working conditions.Originality/value–The MPC schema and the objective function are established.The integrated active front steering/direct yaw moments control strategy is simultaneously adopted in the model.The vehicle’s sideslip angle is chosen as the constraint and is controlled in stable range.The online estimation of tire stiffness is performed.The vehicle’s lateral acceleration and the yaw rate acceleration are modelled into the two-degree-of-freedom equation to solve the tire cornering stiffness in real time.This can ensure the accuracy of model.

Analysis of the Lateral Stability of a Truck on the NRC Curved Track Simulator

The development of experimental facilities for rail vehicle testing at the NRCCentre for Surface Transportation Technology is being complemented byanalytic studies. The purpose of this effort has been to gain insight into thedynamics of rail vehicles in order to guide the development of the Curved TrackSimulator (CTS) and to establish an analytic framework for the design andinterpretation of tests to be conducted on the CTS. The work described hererepresents an initial effort towarde meeting these objectives.Parametric study results using linear model of freight truck on the CTSshowed that (a) increasing roller radius increases critical speed (b) increasingthe wheel initial cone angle will decrease the hunting speed (c) increasing theroller cant increases hunting speed (d) decrowning of the wheelset on the rollerewill not effect the hunting speed but induces longitudinal destabilzing horizontalforces at the contact and (e) lozenging of wheelset on the rollers induces a yawmoment and the hunting speed decreases with increasing wheelset yaw angle.

A Computational Study on Lateral Flight Stability of the Cranefly in Hover

The dynamic flight stability of hovering insects includes the longitudinal and lateral motion.Research results have shown that for the majority of hovering insects the same longitudinal natural modes are identified and the hovering flight in longitudinal is unstable.However,in lateral,the modal structure for hovering insects could be different and the stability property of lateral disturbance motion is not as robust as that of longitudinal motion.The cranefly possesses larger aspect ratio and lower Reynolds number,and such differences in morphology and kinematics may make the lateral dynamic stability different.In this paper,the lateral flight stability of the cranefly in hover is investigated by numerical simulation.Firstly,the stability derivatives are acquired by solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations.Subsequently,the dynamic stability characteristics are checked by analyzing the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the linearized system.Computational results indicate that the lateral dynamic modal structure of cranefly is different from most other insects,consisting of three natural modes,and the weakly oscillatory mode illustrates the hovering lateral flight is nearly neutral.This neutral stability is mainly caused by the negative derivative of roll-moment vs.sideslip-velocity,which can be attributed to the weaker‘changingLEV-axial-velocity’effect.These results suggest that insects in nature may exhibit different dynamic stabilities with different morphological and kinematic parameters,which should be considered in the designs of flapping wing air vehicles.

Assessment of pipeline stability in the Gulf of Mexico during hurricanes using dynamic analysis

Pipelines are the critical link between major offshore oil and gas developments and the mainland. Any inadequate on-bottom stability design could result in disruption and failure, having a devastating impact on the economy and environment. Predicting the stability behavior of offshore pipelines in hurricanes is therefore vital to the assessment of both new design and existing assets. The Gulf of Mexico has a very dense network of pipeline systems constructed on the seabed. During the last two decades, the Gulf of Mexico has experienced a series of strong hurricanes, which have destroyed, disrupted and destabilized many pipelines. This paper first reviews some of these engineering cases. Following that, three case studies are retrospectively simulated using an in-house developed program. The study utilizes the offshore pipeline and hurricane details to conduct a Dynamic Lateral Stability analysis, with the results providing evidence as to the accuracy of the modeling techniques developed.

Study on Lateral Aerodynamic Characteristics of Hypersonic Lifting-Configuration

To have a deep understanding of the lateral stability of hypersonic lifting-configurations, wind-tunnel tests of roll static and dynamic stability for typical hypersonic lifting-configurations are carried out. The results show the roll is static unstable in small angles; the roll dynamic test curves present obvious non-linearity characteristics, and the model vibrates violently even When the angle of attack is small, which may be provoked by the non-symmetry transition from the small transverse flow around the nose of model. Subsequent research adopts longitudinal trips to generate symmetry transition at the fore-body of the model. As a result, the lateral stability of the aircrafts is apparently improved. The results show that the lateral stability of hypersonic aircrafts is very weak, and the main reason for this is lateral perturbation of flow over the nose, among which asymmetric transition weighs the most. Adoption of longitudinal trips could spur fixed transition of lateral flow, reduce the transition asymmetry of lateral flow, and strengthen the lateral stability of hypersonic aircrafts at the same time.

Influence of yaw damper layouts on locomotive lateral dynamics performance:Pareto optimization and parameter analysis

High-speed locomotives are prone to carbody or bogie hunting when the wheel-rail contact conicity is excessively low or high.This can cause negative impacts on vehicle dynamics performance.This study presents four types of typical yaw damper layouts for a high-speed locomotive(Bo-Bo)and compares,by using the multi-objective optimization method,the influences of those layouts on the lateral dynamics performance of the locomotive;the linear stability indexes under lowconicity and high-conicity conditions are selected as optimization objectives.Furthermore,the radial basis function-based highdimensional model representation(RBF-HDMR)method is used to conduct a global sensitivity analysis(GSA)between key suspension parameters and the lateral dynamics performance of the locomotive,including the lateral ride comfort on straight tracks under the low-conicity condition,and also the operational safety on curved tracks.It is concluded that the layout of yaw dampers has a considerable impact on low-conicity stability and lateral ride comfort but has little influence on curving performance.There is also an important finding that only when the locomotive adopts the layout with opening outward,the difference in lateral ride comfort between the front and rear ends of the carbody can be eliminated by adjusting the lateral installation angle of the yaw dampers.Finally,force analysis and modal analysis methods are adopted to explain the influence mechanism of yaw damper layouts on the lateral stability and differences in lateral ride comfort between the front and rear ends of the carbody.

Large excavations and their effect on displacement of land boundaries

A study to estimate land surface movement caused by large surface excavations in sedimentary strata is presented.In stratified or jointed strata the stress relief driven movement adjacent to large excavations can be significantly larger than expected.High lateral stresses measured in Australia and other places around the world indicate that the ratio of horizontal to vertical stress has been particularly high at shallow depths.The in situ strata is in compression and during excavation,stress is relieved towards the opening causing strata movement.Large excavations such as,open cut mines or highway cuttings,can initiate an extensive horizontal slide of surface layers towards the excavation.These ground movements can be damaging to surface structures such as water storage dams and large buildings.Based on stress measurements at shallow depths in Australian coal mines the study presented here calculates and models the extent of potential ground movement along the bedding surface adjacent to large excavations and provides a new prediction tool of land movement at the excavation boundary that can benefit the geotechnical practitioners in the mining industry.

Flow-pipe-soil coupling mechanisms and predictions for submarine pipeline instability

The stability of a submarine pipeline on the seabed concerns the flow-pipe-soil coupling, with influential factors related to the ocean waves and/or currents, the pipeline and the surrounding soils. A flow-pipe-soil coupling system generally has various instability modes, including the vertical and lateral on-bottom instabilities, the tunnel-erosion of the underlying soil and the subsequent vortex-induced vibrations（VIVs） of free-spanning pipelines. This paper reviews the recent advances of the slip-line field solutions to the bearing capacity, the flow-pipe-soil coupling mechanism and the prediction for the lateral instability, the multi-physical coupling analysis of the tunnel-erosion, and the coupling mechanics between the VIVs and the local scour. It is revealed that the mechanism competition always exists among various instability modes, e.g., the competition between the lateral-instability and the tunnel-erosion. Finally, the prospects and scientific challenges for predicting the instability of a long-distance submarine pipeline are discussed in the context of the deep-water oil and gas exploitations.

Active steering control strategy for articulated vehicles

To improve maneuverability and stability of articulated vehicles, we design an active steering controller, including tractor and trailer controllers, based on linear quadratic regulator(LQR) theory. First, a three-degree-of-freedom(3-DOF) model of the tractor-trailer with steered trailer axles is built. The simulated annealing particle swarm optimization(SAPSO) algorithm is applied to identify the key parameters of the model under specified vehicle speed and steering wheel angle. Thus, the key parameters of the simplified model can be obtained according to the vehicle conditions using an online look-up table and interpolation. Simulation results show that vehicle parameter outputs of the simplified model and Truck Sim agree well, thus providing the ideal reference yaw rate for the controller. Then the active steering controller of the tractor and trailer based on LQR is designed to follow the desired yaw rate and minimize their side-slip angle of the center of gravity(CG) at the same time. Finally, simulation tests at both low speed and high speed are conducted based on the Truck Sim-Simulink program. The results show significant effects on the active steering controller on improving maneuverability at low speed and lateral stability at high speed for the articulated vehicle. The control strategy is applicable for steering not only along gentle curves but also along sharp curves.

Design methodology of an osculating cone waverider with adjustable sweep and dihedral angles

When considering the practical engineering application of a waverider,the on-design and off-design aerodynamic characteristics of the design conditions,especially the lift-to-drag ratio and the stability,deserve attention.According to recently studies,the planform and rear sight shape of a waverider are closely related to the above aerodynamic performance.Thus,the planform leading-edge profile curve used to design the planform shape of a vehicle is applied to designing an osculating cone waverider.Two key parameters concerned in planform and rear sight shape,namely the plan view sweep angle of the leading edge and the dihedral angle of the underside are introduced to the waverider design process.Each parameter is inserted in the control curve equation.Especially,a parameterization scheme is put forward for the free adjustment of the sweep angle along the leading edge.Finally,three examples are generated for verification and investigation.After the verification process based on the inviscid flow field of one case,the influences of the sweep and dihedral angles on the lift-to-drag ratio and the lateral static stability are evaluated,and meaningful results are obtained.Based on these results,we can conclude that,considering the maximum lift-to-drag ratio,the sweep angle plays a role on the lift-to-drag ratio only at subsonic and trans/supersonic speed as a negligible effect is observed at hypersonic speeds,whereas the dihedral angle is seem to produce a relevant difference at hypersonic speeds.Considering the lateral static stability,the dihedral angles have more influence on the waverider than the sweep angles.