Passive gyroscopic stabilization of powered two-wheel vehicles

We consider the high speed, weave and wobble mode, stability of a two-wheeled vehicle equipped with a passive gyroscopic stabiliser. This stabiliser is a rapidly-spinning disk attached to the chassis of the vehicle with freedom to rotate along an axis perpendicular to the spinning axis.The equations of motion of the combined system are derived symbolically using the multibody dynamics software MBSymba and linearised about the equilibrium condition of constant-speed forward motion in order to investigate stability properties at different vehicle speeds. Using this methodology, a stabiliser is designed that can improve the stability of both the wobble and weave modes of the vehicle. This contrasts with the more conventional use of a damper on the steering column, which can only correct wobble instability and is detrimental to weave mode stability. We conclude with time domain simulations to evaluate the effect of the stabilizer on cornering