Vehicle Lateral Stability Controller Design for Critical Running Conditions using NMPC Based on Vehicle Dynamics Safety Envelope

The rapid development of active safety control systems has paved the way for the discussion of lateral stability in critical running conditions. To improve the lateral stability of a vehicle in critical running conditions, a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) strategy that integrates active front steering and additional yaw moment is proposed in this manuscript. The reference yaw rate in critical running conditions is obtained by employing Lyapunov's second method. In addition, this method adopts a varied sideslip angle to describe a stability region using a phase plane approach, which is used as the vehicle stability constraints. To verify the effectiveness of the presented lateral NMPC stability controller, off-line simulations under various running conditions are carried out using the high-precision vehicle simulation veDYNA software. It is shown that the N-MPC controller presents a feasible performance enhancement in tracking the reference yaw rate and keeping the vehicle stable in critical running conditions.