Centralized Control of Distributed Drive Steer-by-Wire Chassis Considering Tire Force Zoning Constraints

Distributed drive steer-by-wire chassis has significant potential for enhancing vehicle dynamics performance, while also presenting great challenges to vehicle dynamics control. To address the coordination among multiple chassis subsystems and the coupled control allocation of longitudinal and lateral tire forces, this paper proposes a centralized control framework based on optimal yaw moment control. By analyzing the impact of longitudinal and lateral tire forces on vehicle yaw moments, a method for allocating longitudinal and lateral forces with maximum yaw moment as the objective is proposed. On this basis, a hierarchical control architecture is designed, including the driver control layer, motion control layer, tire force allocation layer, and actuator execution layer, to achieve centralized domain control of longitudinal and lateral dynamics in distributed drive steer-by-wire chassis. Finally, the proposed centralized controller is validated using offline simulation and real-time simulation. The results show that the proposed centralized controller enables precise trajectory tracking with a longitudinal error below 0.2 m and a lateral error constrained within 0.1 m, while reducing the average tire adhesion coefficient by 13% compared to decentralized control. The controller effectively maintains tire forces within a stable operational region, thereby significantly enhancing vehicle stability.