The paper reports an exploratory design study of aerodynamic devices as actuators for controlling cabin vibrations of heavy trucks, particularly pitching while driving on motorways. In-plane vibration of a truck and semitrailer is analysed using a 13 DOF linear model of the vehicle. The exploitation of the full potential of lift forces of aerodynamic device on the cabin roof becomes an important issue because airfoils (spoilers) of acceptable size can be expected to generate only a limited amount of lift at typical legal motorway speed for trucks. A CFD study is made to determine the pattern of airflow around the truck cabin, to design an airfoil to be used as an actuator and to determine its optimum location on the cabin roof. A non-linear controller that permits occasional saturation of lift is employed to control the angle of attack of the airfoil for using the limited lift effectively. the control design is based on a set of initial gains estimated from LQR designs with under-weighted input and its performance is assessed by simulation. Preliminary results indicate the feasibility of employing well-designed, non-linearly controlled aerodynamic devices on a truck cabin for improving the cabin pitch vibrations significantly.
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