Vehicle modelling for Electronic Stability Control in a

four in-wheel electric vehicle

M. M. Al Emran Hasan, H. Mazumder, M. Ektesabi
Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Science
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
mhasan@swin.edu.au
AbstractDespite numerous available multi-body simulation
packages, a vehicle modeling for simulating car-handling
control system is presented here considering the existing
constrains. The relevant tasks and challenges for modeling and
simulating the stability controller for electric vehicle with four
in wheels are explained. Co-simulation is common way for
multi-dimensions where, interchange of data between these
multiple systems show some constrains in required model
definition and required input and output structure that may
impose some limitation in control algorithm for this kind of
advanced vehicle. Also the phenomena of under-prediction in
co-simulation due to model coverage is also in considered for
modeling this vehicle and controller presented here in the
work. Using SIMULINK basic blocks form commonly used
tool box, a vehicle body model is developed incorporating
longitudinal and lateral motion, front and rear wheel with
steering angle, electric motor and controller, physical
environment and the stability controller. This research also
proposes the possibility of hardware in loop test using these
developed modules with reconfiguration. The validation of
simulation results discussed here with recent trends in this
area.

Keywords- Electric vehicle, stability control, multi body,
SIMULINK, vehicle model.
I. INTRODUCTION
Modeling and simulation has always a big importance
in the engineering process. In order to reduce the
engineering and cost in terms of money and time, different
simulation tools have been used to simulate the entire
system before starting physical development. It is also
important to model the parts of the systems if not possible to
make physically available. Electric Vehicle, consists of four
in-wheel motor has a greater flexibility [1] considering its
controllability. This is one of the reasons behind the
popularity of four in-wheel motor electric vehicle in
research. Simulation helps in the design phase to avoid
physical multiple testing. But modeling and simulating this
system and its environment requires multiple dimensions as
it requires converting the electrical energy to mechanical
energy which eventually acting on a virtual physical
environment. Most common way of simulating these kinds
of systems is taking advantages from multiple modeling
systems is co-simulation. Vehicle models available in
different simulating software tools may not be usable
entirely for a simulation considered here in this research
paper. Also a controller designed to control such vehicles
may not be available in these software systems. Most
common practice is done regarding this kind of simulation is
co-simulating the controller developed in SIMULINK with
available vehicle model from ADAMS car [2], CarSim [3] or
from others advanced vehicle simulating software. Specific
software with built in reconfigurable models and control
methods from SIMULINK or from other software tools show
some constrains in model definition, d efining input and
output variables, inputs and outputs within the required
structure. Without a comprehensive model for this advanced
vehicle mentioned here with electrical and mechanical
properties, stability control law and algorithm may not be
simulate and verified properly. SIMULINK is a powerful
software tool to model bits and pieces of the vehicle system
according to the design and edition is easily possible. Here,
the model has been developed considering the
reconfiguration of the vehicle body, wheels, environment
and controller. Reconfiguration is needed for hardware in
loop test for analyzing the performance of the actuator and
sensors. Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is an advanced
safety feature, it helps to prevent single vehicle accident in
sudden maneuver while spin out or drifting out [4]. ESC has
become the requirement for new registered vehicles on the
road. For pollution control and green technology, electric
vehicle gain popularity in the automotive industries. As new
vehicle, the Electric vehicle has become the better option in
comparison with the other alternative fuel based vehicles
overcoming all constrains regarding distance coverage,
vehicle speed and size. Automotive industries are
introducing new electric vehicles to the market with different
technology. It is important to consider ESC for these new
electric cars with in-wheel motors. As these EVs have a
different architecture for drive, research is required for
handling these vehicles using ESC.
II. VEHICLE MODEL
The control analysis and controller design for vehicle
motion relay on vehicle dynamics. If new safety feature like
ESC is concern for intelligent control then control analysis
require a vehicle model that includes all the components of
vehicle dynamics those affecting on vehicle stability. It
indicates the need of a detailed and comprehensive vehicle
model to reproduce the behavior of individual components as
exactly as possible. Such a vehicle modeling requires
equations of motions and interactions between subsystems
which are in the form of mathematical equation. Using these
mathematical equations, computer model is made that helps
to analyze the controller before prototyping.
Vehicle models are very specific to the goal of it. Instead of
using a generalized vehicle model a specific vehicle model
is developed here for ESC. The schematic diagram is given
in fig.1 for ESC controller with vehicle model. Schematic
diagram in fig 1 shows the subsystems which includes:
1. Vehicle body
2. Electric motor
3. Wheel
4. Suspension
5. Road and environment
6. ESC controller
Some other sub systems are underlying behind the
major block which shown in vehicle modeling
7. Desire yaw rate
8. Desire slip angle
9. Control law
10. Motor driver
11. Brake
Fig 1: Vehicle modeling schematic for ESC.
To simulate ESC, in the first step mathematical model
is described and then SIMULINK (MATLAB tool) is
used to define computer models. Vehicle consists of
many components; some of these components take part
in dynamic behavior of the vehicle. Forces acting on
the vehicle from tire, gravity, aerodynamics and engine
determine the dynamic behavior of the vehicle. In this
case electric motor used as driving force. These wheels
also have resistive force working on them is known as
rolling resistance. There are some other resistive forces
imposed on vehicle like grading force and air drag
force. The components related to vehicle motion, an
overview is depicted in fig 2 to classify the acting
forces based their sources and behavior.
Fig 2: Forces acting from different components.
A. Vehicle body
The fundamental law of motion along with the geometric
relationships, longitudinal velocity Vx, lateral velocity Vy
and yaw rate Yr of the vehicle can be measured [5]. Vehicle
body model includes the modeling of vertical load or normal
forces on the rear Fzr and front Fzf of the vehicle body. In
order to avoid complexity of modeling a large system like
vehicle full body, the model is divided into five sub-models
or sub-systems, they are:
1. Velocity in X axis
2. Velocity in Y axis
3. Yaw rate
4. Vertical load in the front
5. Vertical load at the rear
After creating the SIMULINK model of sub-models from
their mathematical model, they are encapsulated as a
subsystem of the vehicle body model.
Then the equations of motions for this vehicle body are:
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
) 1 ......(
sin
cos
1
2
1
1
]
1

+ +
+ +
+
x D xrr xrl
yfr yfl xfr xfl
r y x
V A F F
F F F F
m
Y V V
dt
d

( ) ( ) ( )
( )
) 2 ......(
cos
sin
1
1
1
]
1

+ +
+ + +
+
yrr yrl
yfr yfl xfr xfl
r x y
F F
F F F F
m
Y V V
dt
d

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
) 3 ......( cos
sin
1
1
1
1
]
1

,
_

+ +
+

yrr yrl
yfr yfl
xfr xfl
r
F F b
F F
F F
a
j
Y
dt
d

Fig 3: Forces acting on the vehicle

The vertical load acting on the front axle Fzf =
( )
) 4 .....(
sin
cos
1
1
1
1
1
]
1

CoG
x CoG
aero aero
zf
mgh
V
dt
d
m h
h F mgb
b a
F
While climbing up of a slope with angle
Then the vertical load acting on the rear axle Fzr =
( )
) 5 .......(
sin
cos
1
1
1
1
1
]
1

+
+
+

CoG
x CoG
aero aero
zr
mgh
V
dt
d
mh
h F mga
b a
F
In SIMULINK every force elements from mathematical
model will be time-varying, they can be said as time-
varying functions. Considering the (1) in a time-varying
equation can be written as:
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ) 6 .....(
) ( ) ( ) (
) ( sin ) ( ) (
) ( cos ) ( ) (
1
) ( ) ( ) (
2
1
1
1
1
]
1

+ +
+
+

+
t V A t F t F
t t F t F
t t F t F
m
t Y t V t V
dt
d
x D xrr xrl
yfr yfl
xfr xfl
r y x

Using SIMULINK blocks a sub-system considering (6) can
be made as shown in the following fig 4. Using advanced
features of SIMULINK sub-model of the vehicle body is
encapsulated as a block with required input out for reducing
the complexity.
(a)
(b)
Fig 4 (a) Sub-system and (b) encapsulated block for
calculating longitudinal velocity Vx
Sub-system for calculating lateral velocity Vy , Yaw rate Yr ,
vertical load front of the vehicle Fzf and vertical load at the
rear of the vehicle Fzr are modeled using the mathematical
model and encapsulated. Fig 5.Shows the entire vehicle
body block for simulation.
Figure 5: Full Vehicle body model.
B. Tire modelling
Vehicle dynamics are mostly influenced by the forces
and moments acting on tire or wheel. Simulation of
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) for 4 in-wheel electric
vehicle, require details of the involved forces acting on the
wheel. Considering ESC, a wheel model is presented here
that can reproduce the exact behavior of forces as much as
possible. Several tire models are discussed in different
literature where slip ratio and slip angle are not considered
for a larger value and also lack of combined longitudinal and
lateral tire force. To meet the purpose of simulating ESC,
Dugoffs [6] tire model has been chosen.
Fig 6. Tire with the forces and their axis.
Tire model has been developed here considering effective
tire radius, slip ratio, road friction coefficient, cornering
tire stiffness and longitudinal tire stiffness.
According to Dugoff, force in X axis is Fx and force in Y
axis is Fy
) 7 )........( (
1

f C F
x

+

( )
) 8 )........( (
1
tan

f C F
y

+

Where,
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) { }
2
1
2 2
tan 2
1

+
+

C C
F
z
If <1 then f () = (2- )
If 1 then f () = 1
Tire model also required in simulating ESC, rotation and
torque of the wheel. Using SIMULINK tools for sensing
motion and actuating torque, tools used for are given below
in fig 7.
Fig 7: shows torque actuator and motion sensor of
SIMULINK tool
Including all the components and subsystems using the
equations stated above tire models is given below. Fig 8
shows the front and rear tire full model with the
encapsulated block
Fig 8: shows encapsulated block of front tire full model
Road friction coefficient
Due to this adhesive capability vehicle moves forward when
there is any tractive effort on the wheel. The maximum
tractive effort that can be supported by the tire-ground
contact patch is the product of vehicle load and coefficient
of road adhesion or tire-road frictional coefficient denoted
as . For further increase in tractive effort will cause sliding
of the wheel. In this wheel model different values of this
coefficient will be used as constant input for different
simulation. Table 1 shows the different frictional coefficient
for different road.
Surface
Peak Values,
p
Sliding
Values, s
Asphalt and
concrete (dry)
0.80.9 0.75
Concrete (wet) 0.8 0.7
Asphalt (wet) 0.50.7 0.450.6
Grave 0.6 0.55
Earth road (dry) 0.68 0.65
Earth road
(wet)
0.55 0.40.5
Snow (hard
packed)
0.2 0.15
Ice 0.1 0.07
Table 1: Shows average values of tire-road friction.
C. Vehicle motion on plane
The concept of body block in SIMULINK gives the
feasibility to find the position of a body after the applied
forces fed in to it. Fig 9 shows the arrangement to relate the
vehicle body on the world plane. It is an advanced feature
from this software tool to simulate the motion of the vehicle
on a plane. The plane can be the world and the relation
between them can be defined easily by configuring the
blocks.
Fig 10. Connection with world plane
Other useful blocks for sensing body motion and actuating
joints are also shown in fig 10.
Fig. 9 shows the body sensor and actuators for vehicle.
D. Controller for ESC
In this model desired-yaw rate and desired side-slip angle
is calculated for ESC using (9) and (10).
III. SIMULATION
Simulation of the entire system requires all the blocks
arranged as described in the model schematics. To simulate
this model, some realistic data have been used in the vehicle
body block and in the tire block. Table 2 shows the required
data for vehicle body block and table 3 shows the required
data for tire block.
Vehicle Body
Parameters Value
Height at air drag force acts=Haero 0.5
Height at CG=HatCG 0.49
gravitational force=g 9.8
yaw moment of inertia=Iz 1808
mass of the vehicle=mass 1480
Aerodynamic drag coefficient =Cd 0.32
Mass density of air = ro 1.22
Frontal area of the vehicle = Af 2
Wind velocity =vWind 24
Rolling resistance coefficient=f 0.013
wheel Base=Lw 0.90
Table 2: Parameter for vehicle body block
Tire
Effective Tire Radius=r_eff2 0.28
Tire-Road Friction Coefficient=miu 0.8
Longitudinal Stiffness of Tire=c_sigma2 20,000
Cornering Stiffness of Tire=c_alpha2 80,000
Longitudinal Distance form C.G to Front
Tires=Lf
1.22
Rotational Moment of Inertia of Wheel=Jw 1.85
Table 3: Parameter for tire block
In simulation, some basic output like speed and yaw rate and
radius of this vehicle model is observed, these output are
shown in fig 11.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 11: (a) Vehicle speed (b) radius
Simulation of vehicle motion with the controller and
without the controller is done here. For the both cases the
path followed by the vehicle is given in the fig 12.
Simulation shows the vehicle is controlled from under-
steering and following the drivers steering input.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 12: Vehicle motion (a) without controller (b) with
controller
IV. CONCLUSION
Effort has been given for modeling and simulating the entire
vehicle using one software tool to avoid constrains faced in
several steps for simulating electronic stability control for
an in-wheel electric vehicle. Proposed model gives the
flexibility to simulate ESC at the initial stage of
development to observe the vehicle dynamics according to
the given parameters for vehicle components. Simulation
results show a similar dynamic behavior of a car having
similar properties used here. In further works, hardware in
loop test bench is going to be designed which will include
braking and torque generating on individual wheel. As
modeling of these vehicle components have developed
considering to reduce dependency on other software tools
foe vehicle description, it is expected to have a prompted
response in the hardware.
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2009.
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