Gain-scheduling robust control for a tire-blow-out road vehicle

This paper presents a robust control approach to keeping directional and driving stability for a road vehicle after a tire blow-out. Considering the time-varying vehicle velocity as well as the uncertain tire characteristics, a linear parameter varying vehicle model is built. With front wheel steering angle and yaw control moment as control inputs, a gain-scheduling H infinity controller is developed to attenuate the effects of a flat tire. An optimal control allocation law is presented to perform the yaw control moment by differential braking on the other three tires. Finally, a hardware-in-the-loop testing system, composed of the veDYNA high-fidelity software program and an actual automotive hydraulic braking system, is utilized for controller validation. The results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed coordinated controller in improving vehicle directional stability and robustness against the disturbances caused by a tire blow-out.