Stability Optimization of Articulated Frame Steer Vehicles

Other conference contribution, 2008

This paper presents an optimization approach to the design synthesis of articulated frame steer vehicles for improving the lateral stability. The approach combines a genetic algorithm and the sequential quadratic programming to automatically find optimal design variables for maximizing the critical speed of articulated frame steer vehicles. In this approach, a stability margin has been introduced in the design criteria to enhance the safety of the vehicles. To implement this design synthesis, a 3 degree of freedom vehicle model is generated. In the design optimization, the dominant parameters for the critical speed are identified and their effects on the lateral stability are investigated.