Improving Vehicle Rollover Resistance Using Fuzzy PID Controller of Active Anti-Roll Bar System

The active anti-roll bar (AARB) system in vehicles has recently become one of the research hotspots in the field of vehicle technology to improve the vehicle’s active safety. In most off-road vehicles, high ground clearance is required while keeping all wheels in contact with the ground in order to improve traction and maintain load distribution among the wheels. A problem however arises in some types of the off-road vehicles when the vehicle is operated at high speeds on smooth roads. In such condition, the combination of the vehicle’s center of gravity position, large suspension stroke, and soft spring construction creates a stability problem, which could make the vehicle liable to rollover.

This article analyzes a comparison of stability performance between passive and active anti-roll bar systems to improve rolling resistance. For active systems, two control strategies will be investigated. The conventional Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller is firstly investigated and taken as a reference. Then a modified Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller with fuzzy technology is developed and compared to the reference one. A full-car model of 14-degrees of freedom (DOF) associated with the Pacejka tire model is used for the analysis and the simulation of the rollover prevention. The performances of the control strategies are compared and simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink program through a series of stability tests prepared by the National Highway Traffic Safety.