Parametric Study on Vehicle-Trailer Dynamics for Stability Control

For stability control on a vehicle-trailer combination, the coupling between vehicle and trailer as two pivoted rigid bodies has been investigated, in view of concerns that the coupling strength varies as vehicle-trailer parameters change, and thus plays an important role in the design and robustness of the stability controller. Analyses through root locus and time-domain response have been conducted and several observations have been made, which are valuable for the controller design. A preliminary stability controller with state feedback has been designed and simulated to further verify the studies above.