A design synthesis framework for directional performance optimization of multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles with trailer lateral dynamic control systems

This paper presents a design synthesis framework for directional performance optimization of multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles with trailer lateral dynamic control systems, e.g. active trailer steering, trailer differential braking, active roll control or the coordination of the three systems. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, it was applied to the design optimization of a multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicle with an active trailer steering controller. In the design, a set of lateral stability measures is originally defined, and the design problem under simulated test manoeuvres is implemented using a parallel computing technique. It is illustrated that the proposed framework and the performance measures can be used to identify effectively the desired variables and to predict reliably the performance envelopes of multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles with active safety systems by considering the concept of driver-adaptive-vehicle design.