Partial Experimental Validation of Generalized n-Trailer Articulated Vehicle Kinematics

Control-oriented models for vehicle systems are necessary to develop motion planning and path tracking controllers for active safety system development. While being mathematically elegant and simple enough for control design, such models must represent real-world phenomena associated with the vehicle’s kinematic and dynamic behavior. Specifically, articulated vehicles suffer from peculiarities like rearward amplification and offtracking in their kinematic behavior that are not found in single-unit passenger vehicles. In this paper, an iterative kinematic modeling algorithm for articulated truck-trailer vehicles with an arbitrary number of vehicle units having an arbitrary number of axles on each vehicle unit is evaluated using driver input data collected from an experimental passenger vehicle on eight real-world scenarios. The experimental vehicle is considered as the tractor vehicle unit for a simulation study in which multiple trailers of various geometries are considered. The yaw rate and rearward yaw rate amplification response of the vehicle with various trailers is analyzed in order to validate the modeling approach.