Handling performance of an 8x8 combat vehicle

In this research paper, the handling stability of an 8x8 combat vehicle will be assessed using two different control systems. The first technique utilizes a Torque Vectoring Controller (TVC) to control the vehicle yaw rate to meet the desired value. The second technique utilizes an Active Rear-axles Steering (ARS) to minimize the vehicle sideslip. TVC will be designed as a Single Input Single Output (SISO) control problem using a Sliding Mode Control (SMC) technique, while an Optimal Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) will be utilized to develop the ARS controller. The two controllers will be evaluated against a conventional vehicle with fixed rear axles. TruckSim software is used in corporation with Matlab/Simulink to implement and assess the controllers using Double Lane Change (DLC) over high and low coefficient of friction road surfaces at various speeds. The results give an insight into the driving conditions at which each controller is utilized and introduce a novel method to coordinate the integration between both controllers for integrated chassis applications.