Wheel Torque Controller Development Using a Simplified Tire Model for Vehicle Handling Enhancement

A tire model is an essential element in the vehicle controller development and various complexities of tire models have been developed and used. It is highly desirable for the control systems to use a tire model that is computationally efficient and easy to implement in control algorithms while providing desired performance. In this paper, a wheel torque controller was developed using a non-linear predictive control theory, 8 degree of freedom vehicle model, and a simplified nonlinear tire model in order to control the vehicle yaw rate and side slip angle. The performance of this controller was compared to that based on well known Magic Formula tire model. The effectiveness and limitations of the proposed controller were discussed through simulation.