Optimal Control Based Dynamics Exploration of a Rigid Car With Longitudinal Load Transfer

In this brief, we provide optimal control-based strategies to explore the dynamic capabilities of a single-track car model that includes tire models and longitudinal load transfer. First, we propose numerical tools to analyze the equilibrium manifold of the vehicle. That is, we design a continuation and predictor-corrector numerical strategy to compute the cornering equilibria on the entire range of operation of the tires. Second, as a main contribution of this brief, we explore the system dynamics by the use of nonlinear optimal control techniques. Specifically, we propose a combined optimal control and continuation strategy to compute aggressive car trajectories. To show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, we compute aggressive maneuvers of the vehicle inspired to testing maneuvers from virtual and real prototyping.