Traction and yaw-rate control of 4WD vehicle with drive force distribution

This paper is concerned with traction and yaw-rate control strategy for 4WD vehicle by controlling drive and brake forces of all 4 wheels. A hierarchical controller, which consists of a main loop controller, drive force distribution algorithm and wheel slip controller, is conducted to improve the acceleration performance while ensuring the vehicle stability. Simulation of a cornering and accelerating on low μ case is carried out to verify the effect of the control algorithm. The simulation results indicate that handling stability and acceleration performance of the 4WD vehicle is improved by the proposed control strategy when the vehicle is cornering and accelerating on the slippery road.