Vehicle stability enhancement by an energy optimal control approach

Vehicle stability enhancement based on an energy optimal control method is presented. The direct yaw moment control of a road vehicle is aimed by the intervention of individual braking forces. The optimal controller has been designed to minimize the given criteria function. This function has two essential elements: the control performance measure and the input power. The employment of yaw moment and yaw rate in the control performance measure enables the incorporation of the most important dynamics into the control law. By designing the input power based on the braking forces, the yaw moment input is automatically calculated by the controller. The effectiveness of the control approach has been shown by the application of the controller in the case of rapid lane change for two different initial velocity conditions.