Handling Dynamics of an Ultra-Lightweight Vehicle During Load Variation

This chapter proposes an active chassis control strategy to counteract the implications of loading variation on driving dynamics. Lightweight vehicles are becoming popular due to the corresponding reduction in energy consumption. However, the driving dynamics of a vehicle can be vastly influenced by the increase in load-to-curb weight ratio. The ratio considers the weight of an empty vehicle, also known as curb weight, in relation to its fully laden weight, which is the gross weight. This research considers a 282 kg ultra-lightweight vehicle, equipped with two rear in-wheel motors. In comparison with common commercial passenger vehicles, where the load-to-curb weight ratio does not exceed 20%, the ratio increase for an ultra-lightweight vehicle can be more than 71% when laden with a driver and passenger. The driving scenarios that were considered in this research include empty vehicle, driver, driver and passenger and finally driver and passenger with additional luggage. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the load-to-curb weight ratio affects the vehicle handling and the direct yaw moment control implemented on an ultra-lightweight vehicle without updating the vehicle parameters. The results suggest that the proposed controller becomes less efficient as the load-to-curb weight ratio increases. This chapter includes the problem background, consequence of load variation, control implementation and lastly the handling dynamics and the effectiveness of the control. The analysis was made via co-simulation of Simcenter Amesim™ and MATLAB Simulink