An Investigation of Driver Models for Closed-Loop Dynamic Stability Analysis of Articulated Vehicles

摘要

This paper investigates the applicability of driver models for closed-loop path-following control of articulated vehicles. A driver model for articulated vehicles is developed with Simulink/Matlab, considering human operator biological behaviors. In the driver model, the preview-predictor follow strategy is introduced to minimize the tractor lateral displacement error with respect to the target path by means of correcting the steering angles of front tires. To evaluate the performance of the developed driver model, a low-speed path-following and a high-speed lane change test maneuvers for articulated vehicles are simulated. In order to perform the numerical simulations, a vehicle model with the configuration of a tractor and a semitrailer and corresponding virtual 'test track' are constructed in TruckSim software; then, the driver model developed in Simulink is combined with the vehicle model via the interface between the two packages. The numerical simulation results are compared against those derived from the driver-inthe-loop real-time simulations conducted on the UOIT (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) vehicle simulator. With the benchmark comparisons, the distinguished features of the driver model are revealed and its applicability is demonstrated.