Stability Analysis and Trajectory Tracking Control of Articulated Heavy Vehicles

Articulated heavy vehicles have heavy loads, high shipping efficiency and low mileage cost. But due to the interaction between the tractor and the trailer, it is easy to appear "jack-knifing" or "trailer sway" and it is difficult to follow the given path of the travel. To this end, a four degrees of freedom single track model of a tractor/full-trailer is built, and the stability analysis is carried on to study the influences of the structural and operating parameters on the vehicle. Furthermore the trajectory tracking controller of trailer is designed, which can ensure that the trajectory of the trailer follows that of the tractor exactly by the control of the active front wheel steering angle of the trailer and the vehicle can maintain good handling stability.