Vehicle Dynamics and Vehicle Control

The research focus Vehicle Dynamics and Vehicle Control makes use of synergies from developed methods and theoretical as well as practical experience from experiments and tests with different types of vehicles (automobiles, railway vehicles, two-wheeled vehicles, etc.).

The research tasks include modelling, simulation, optimisation, and control of the dynamic behaviour of the full vehicle, but also of individual vehicle components (tyre-road contact, damper, hydro-mount, bearings, wheel-rail contact, suspension, etc.). For this purpose, experiments and testing are not only helpful for validation and proving, but also to obtain a profound understanding of the system behaviour.

Next to the application of classical methods of Technical Dynamics and Control Engineering, the research unit aims for the combination of these methods with methods of Machine Learning at specific research questions and research projects.

Current research topics, divided by type of vehicle

Passenger cars, heavy duty vehicles

  • Integrated vehicle dynamics control
  • Vehicle state and parameter estimation; virtual sensors
  • Vehicle handling at the limits (controllability and stability)
  • Tyre-road friction potential estimation and aquaplaning
  • Minimum lap-time optimisation focusing performance and driver workload
  • Control of individual wheel- or axle torques of an electric 4WD vehicle
  • Control strategies of over-actuated vehicles in relation to vehicle handling and energy efficiency
  • Cloud-supported control of automated vehicles
  • Development, utilisation, and integration of data-driven methods in vehicle dynamics and control
  • Health Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance
Sports car with measuring equipment on a snow track

Figure: Testing of methods for friction potential estimation

Railway vehicles

  • Mechanism and simulation of wheel polygonisation
  • Frictional vibrations and electromagnetic coupling at magnetic track brakes
  • Inerter, tuned mass damper for mitigation of adverse vibrations
  • Control of roll motion of vehicle body
  • Simulation of traversing switches and crossings
Two bogies of a locomotive on rails

Figure: Multibody dynamics simulation model of a railway vehicle

Motorcycles, bicycles, e-scooter, tilting vehicles

  • Steer-by-wire of a 3-wheeled fully tilting vehicle
  • On-board estimation methods for friction potential between tyre-road, vehicle and driver parameters, vehicle states
  • Stability of motion and vibrational behaviour (shimmy, wobble, weave)
  • Advanced-river-assistance-systems (ADAS) for e-bikes and e-scooters
Test Motorcycle with three wheels

Figure: Prototype of 3-wheeled fully tilting vehicle with steer-by-wire system