A comparative study of control algorithms for active trailer steering systems of articulated heavy vehicles

This paper presents a benchmark investigation on control algorithms for active trailer steering (ATS) systems of articulated heavy vehicles (AHVs). Two control algorithms are designed for the ATS systems of AHVs, which are derived using the Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) techniques, respectively. The two algorithms are evaluated through dynamic simulations of an AHV with ATS systems. The AHV with a tractor/semi-trailer configuration is modeled using a multibody software package, TruckSim, and the controllers are designed in Simulink/Matlab. With the interface between the two packages, the controllers and the vehicle model are integrated and the dynamic simulations can be conducted. Under the specified test maneuvers, the directional performance of the ATS systems based on the two algorithms are compared. The simulation results show that compared with the baseline design, both the FLC and LQR controllers can improve the maneuverability and stability of the AHV. The performance comparison also indicates that the controller based on the LQR technique outperforms that derived from the FLC method. However, the former achieves better performance at the expense of higher energy consumption.