Coupling of a vehicle transmission chain simulator using a sliding mode control with a vehicle dynamic model

The aim of this paper is to present a method to carry out a vehicle transmission simulator coupled to a vehicle dynamic model. The transmission simulator uses electric actuators with dedicated control laws to reproduce the mechanical characteristics of the real vehicle transmission chain. In order to improve the control law robustness of this electric simulator a sliding mode control is used. The vehicle dynamic model, takes into account the longitudinal, the vertical and the pitch motions. The coupled electric simulator allows to validate theoretical studies (control of automatic or robotized gearboxes, test of heat engine, dynamic behavior, passenger comfort, automated driving) by measurements without need to the real transmission system and the real environment of the vehicle. Such a method allows to reduce significantly the cost and the time of the development phases of vehicles. The proposed method is validated by numerical simulation and measures.