Regions of feasible handling in overactuated vehicles considering actuator sets and limits

Abstract

Overactuation allows the modification of passive vehicle behaviour, influencing handling and stability, using additional actuators. Extensive research has explored vehicle control using rear-wheel steering and torque vectoring. Respective control approaches often rely on predefined reference handling behaviours as control targets. However, the feasibility of such targets depends on actuator availability and limits, making actuator selection critical yet non-trivial. This study proposes an optimisation-based method to determine the regions of feasible handling for steady-state cornering, considering actuator sets and limits for rear-wheel steering, torque vectoring and their combination. Key aspects include the impact of different actuator sets on feasible steering and vehicle sideslip characteristics, normal acceleration limits, and power demand.