Integrated vehicle control through the coordination of longitudinal/lateral and vertical dynamics controllers: Flatness and LPV/H∞‐based design

Summary This paper deals with global chassis control of automotive vehicles. It focuses on the coordination of suspension and steering/braking vehicle controllers based on the interaction between the vertical and lateral behaviors of the vehicle. It is shown that the lateral acceleration and resulting roll motion of the car generate load transfers that considerably affect vehicle stability. A control law is designed in hierarchical way to improve the overall dynamics of the vehicle and cope with coupled driving maneuvers like obstacle avoidance using steering control and stop‐and‐go control using braking or driving wheel torque. This global control strategy includes two types of controllers. The first one is the longitudinal/lateral nonlinear flatness controller. Based on an appropriate choice of flat outputs, the flatness proof of a 3 DOF two‐wheel nonlinear vehicle model is established. Then, the combined longitudinal and lateral vehicle control is designed using algebraic estimation techniques to provide an accurate estimation of the derivatives and filtering of the reference flat outputs. The second part of the proposed strategy consists of a linear parameter‐varying/ H∞ suspension controller. This controller uses lateral acceleration as a varying parameter to account for load transfers that directly affect the suspension system. The coordination between the vehicle vertical and lateral dynamics is highlighted in this study, and the linear parameter‐varying/ H∞ framework ensures a specific collaborative coordination between the suspension and the steering/braking controllers, to achieve the desired performance. Simulations on a complex full vehicle model have been validated using experimental data obtained on‐board a real Renault Mégane Coupé. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.