International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp.

301306 (2017)
DOI 10.1007/s1223901700308

Copyright 2017 KSAE/ 09512

pISSN 12299138/ eISSN 19763832

MODELING MULTI-UNIT VEHICLE DYNAMICS FOR LOW-SPEED

PATH-FOLLOWING ASSESSMENT OFF-HIGHWAY
Q. MIAO1, 2)* and C. ZONG1)
1)

State Key Laboratory for Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, China
2)
R&D Center, Leapmotor Technology Co. Ltd., Hangzhou 310051, China
(Received 14 July 2016; Revised 22 August 2016; Accepted 31 August 2016)

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a non-linear dynamics model for articulated vehicles. This model is able to capture
common low-speed behaviours of any articulated vehicles off-highway, such as operating for a corner or roundabout on a
cambered or slippery surface. It can be used to assess the low-speed manoeuvrability of articulated vehicles under such
manoeuvres and conditions. The vehicle model was validated by comparing its path tracking performance to that of the field
tests.
KEY WORDS : Vehicle dynamics modeling, Long combination vehicles, Off-highway

x(y)
Cs()

NOMENCLATURE
a, b, c, d , e, f, l, D, E, F, L: distances shown in Figure 3
: height of CoG over roll center of vehicle i
his
hihf,r : height of front/rear hitch over roll center i
mi(s) : total (sprung) mass of vehicle unit i
ux(y),hitch,i: longitudinal (lateral) speed on hitch i
ui (vi) : longitudinal (lateral) speed of vehicle unit i
: yaw rate of vehicle unit i
ri
: resultant damping ratio of vehicle unit i
Ci
Fx(y) : longitudinal (lateral) tyre force
Fx(y),hitch,i : longitudinal (lateral) force on hitch point i
Fz,hitch,i : vertical load on coupling points
FDY,i : lateral force on axle i of dollies or B-trailer
FAY,i : lateral force on axle i of A-trailers
Isxx,i : roll moment of inertia of sprung mass i
: yaw/roll product of inertia of sprung mass i
Isxz,i
: yaw moment of inertia of vehicle unit i
Izz,i
: moment of inertia of the wheel
IR
: resultant roll stiffness of vehicle unit i
Ki
: roll stiffness of coupling i and j
Kij
: roll stiffness of axle i
K,i
: rolling radius of the wheel
Rw
: traction torque on tractor drive axle
Tr
: track of axle i
Ti
: steer angle of tractor front axle
f
: steer angle of axle i of dollies or B-trailer
D,i
: steer angle of axle i of A-trailers
A,i

i, l : roll angle (rate) of sprung mass i

: articulation angle at hitch point i
i
: road grade or camber angle
x,y

: wheel speed
: longitudinal wheel slip
: tyre sideslip angle
: longitudinal (lateral) friction coefficient
: longitudinal (lateral) tyre stiffness

x----s
: longitudinal (lateral) adhesive fraction of the
Lx y
( )

contact patch

1. INTRODUCTION
Use of articulated vehicles operating for off-highway
transportation is the main concern of this paper. By using
higher capacity vehicles in these operations, fuel
consumption (greenhouse gas emissions) and shipping
costs could be reduced significantly. For example, shipping
cost showed reductions of up to 30 % when long
combination vehicles were introduced in Canada in the
1980s (Woodrooffe et al., 2001).
Despite their advantages and popularity, conventional
articulated vehicles have some significant drawbacks
which prevent them from accessing those off-highway
areas. Such vehicles are steered solely by the driver
supplying a steer angle to the front wheels but have greater
vehicle length than rigid trucks. Moreover, the complex
behaviour of articulated freight vehicles on unmade and
slippery roads leads to large tyre slip in both longitudinal
and lateral directions. Therefore, articulated vehicles lack
manoeuvrability to be driven on narrow or slippery roads in
rural areas (Miao, 2015).
A few trailer-steering systems were developed to
improve manoeuvrability of artic ulated vehicles at low
speeds (Jujnovich, 2005; Cheng, 2009). The path-following

*Corresponding author. e-mail: qiheng.miao@hotmail.com

301

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Q. MIAO and C. ZONG

performance of such systems off-highway remains unknown

since no simulation or testing was performed under such
conditions. In order to assess low-speed path-following
performance for articulated vehicles off-highway, we
propose simulation modelling rather than vehicle testing
since simulation is safer and easier to adjust the parameters.
The entire simulation model was developed using the
Matlab/Simulink environment from Mathworks (Simulink
Getting Started Guide, 1990).
The overall structure of the model is initially introduced,
followed by the details of each subsystem. It models the
dynamics of a 2-axle tractor with 3 different types of trailer
units, namely B-trailers, A-trailers and dollies. Two trailer
steering algorithms, unsteered and actively-steered, can be
optionally adopted by trailer axles. Since each vehicle unit
is modelled separately, this model can be easily used to
simulate the low-speed behaviour of any tractor-trailer
combination, such as B-double and A-triple (see Figure 1).
The vehicle model was validated by the results from the
field tests conducted by Cheng (2009).

2. OVERALL MODEL STRUCTURE

The non-linear articulated vehicle model captures the low-

speed behaviour of articulated vehicles. The model consists

of 5 sub-models that interact with each other. For a given
manoeuvre, the drive torque and steer angle of the tractor
unit are determined by the driver model. The trailer steer
angles are derived from the trailer steering control laws. In
addition to the steer angles, the vertical load on each tyre is
also required to calculate the tyre force. The tyre forces are
then fed into the vehicle dynamics model, completing the
loop. Each sub-model is summarized below.

3. VEHICLE DYNAMICS SUB-MODEL

The vehicle dynamics sub-model has longitudinal, lateral,
roll and yaw degrees of freedom for both the tractor and the
trailer(s). The equations of motion for the tractor and
trailers are generated separately and connected together by
kinematic constraints and force balance equations at each
hitch point. This is a general approach that can model
vehicle combinations with multiple units (tractor and
trailer(s) or dollies). The principle is illustrated in Figure 2.
Vehicle states such as longitudinal speed, longitudinal
acceleration, lateral speed, lateral acceleration, yaw rate
and roll angle for each vehicle unit are passed to the model
of the next unit in the vehicle combination. The roll angle

Figure 1. Definition of terms and dimensions for articulated vehicle models (x-z plane). Top one is tractor-semitrailer,
middle one is B-double and bottom one is A-triple.

Figure 2. Block diagram of vehicle dynamics sub-model.

MODELING MULTI-UNIT VEHICLE DYNAMICS FOR LOW-SPEED PATH-FOLLOWING ASSESSMENT OFF-HIGHWAY 303

and the forces at the hitch point are passed in the opposite
direction along the vehicle models in the combination.
Application of Newtons Second Law yields four
differential equations for the tractor unit (lateral and
longitudinal forces; roll and yaw moments) and four
differential equations for each of the trailer units. Another
four equations can be determined according to compatibility
of velocities and force balance at each coupling. The
differential equations for each vehicle unit are given below
with the related variables and parameters defined in
Figures 1, 3 and 4. Numerical values for these parameters
can be found in thesis (Miao, 2015).
3.1. Tractor Unit
The equations for the tractor unit are given by:

Roll Moments:

Isxx,1 1 Isxz,1 r1 = [ m1( v 1 + u1 r1 ) m1s h1s ]h1s

+ m1s gh1s sin ( 1 ) K1 1 C1 1 + K12( 2 1 )

(4)

+ Fy,hitchDfh1h

3.2. Dollies and B-trailers

The dollies of the A-triple and the B-trailer of the B-double
both have two axles and both connect to two other vehicle
units. They differ in their geometry and in the roll stiffness
of the hitches, see Figure 4.
The equations of motion of both are the same as long as
suitable parameter values are chosen. The equations for the
B-trailer and for the dollies are given by:

Lateral Forces:

m1 ( v 1 + u1r1 ) m1s h1s 1 = Fy,1 cos ( f )

(1)

+ Fy,2 + m1 gsin( y ) Fy,hitch

Yaw Moments:

Izz,1r1 Isxz,1 1 = Fy,1 bcos ( f ) Fy,2( c b )

[ m ( v + u r ) m h ] ( b a )
1

1 1

1s 1s 1

(2)

+ m1gsin( y )( b a )

Longitudinal Forces:
m1 ( u 1 r1 r1 ) = Fy,1sin( f ) + Fx,2 m1 gsin ( x ) Fx,hitch

(3)

Figure 4. Definition of terms and dimensions for articulated

vehicle models (y-z plane).

Figure 3. Definition of terms and dimensions for articulated vehicle models (x-y plane). Top ones are tractor and B-trailer/
dolly; bottom one is A-trailer.

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Q. MIAO and C. ZONG

Lateral Forces:

Fy,hitch
Df = Fy,hitchAf + m2 ( v 2 + u2 r2 ) m2s 2
FDY,1 cos ( D,1 ) FDY,2 cos ( D,2 ) m2gsin ( y )

(5)

Yaw Moments:

Izz,2r2 Isxz,2 2 = FDY,1 ( E F )cos ( D,1 )

FDY,2 Ecos ( D,2 ) + [ m2 ( v 2 + u2r2 ) m2s 2 ]D

Longitudinal Forces:
(7)

+ FDY,1sin ( D,1 ) + FDY,2sin ( D,2 ) + m2gsin ( x)

Roll Moments:

Isxx,2 2 Isxz,2r2 = [ m2 ( v 2 + u2r2 ) m2s 2 ]h2s

+ m2s gh2s sin ( 2 ) K2 2 C2 2 + Fy,hitchAf h2hr

(8)

K12 ( 2 1 ) K23 ( 2 3 ) + Fy,hitch

Df h2hf

3.3. A-trailers
Likewise, the A-trailers on all three vehicle combinations
have the same equations of motion:
Lateral Forces:

Fy,hitch
Af = Fy,hitchDf + m3 ( v 3 + u3r3 ) m3s 3
FAY,1 cos ( A,1 ) FAY,2 cos ( A,2 )

(9)

FAY,3 cos ( A,3 ) m3 gsin( y )

Yaw Moments:

Izz,3r3 Isxz, 3 3 = FAY,1 ( e f )cos ( A,1 )

FAY,3 ecos ( A,2 ) FAY,3 ( e + f )cos ( A,3 )

+ [ m3 ( v 3 + u3r3 ) m3s 3 ]d + m3 gsin( y )d

(10)

Longitudinal Forces:
Fx,hitch
Af = Fx,hitchDf + m3 ( u 3 + v3 r3 )
+ m3gsin( x ) + FAY,1 ( A,1 ) + FAY,2sin( A,2 )

(11)

FAY,3 sin( A,3 )

Roll Moments:

Isxx,3 3 Isxz, 3r3 = [ m3 ( v 3 + u3r3 ) m3s 3 ]h3s

+ m3s gh3s sin ( 3 ) K3 3 C3 3

(13)

Fx,hitch,i = Fx,hitch,i

cos ( i ) + Fy,hitch,i

sin ( i )

(14)

vhitchi,i

= vhitchi,i cos ( i ) + uhitchi,i sin( i )

(15)

uhitchi,i

= uhitchi,i cos ( i ) vhitchi,i sin( i )

(16)

4. DRIVER SUB-MODEL
(6)

+ m2gsin ( y )D + Fy,hitchAfL
Fx,hitchDf = Fx,hitchAf + m2 ( u 2 v2 r2 )

Fy,hitch,i = Fy,hitch,i

cos ( i ) Fx,hitch,i

sin( i )

(12)

K23 ( 3 2 ) K34 ( 3 4 ) + Fy,hitch

Af h3hf
+ Fy,hitchDfh3hr

3.4. Hitch Constraints

Equilibrium of hitch forces and the kinematic compatibility
equations at each of the hitch points are given by:

The driver sub-model determines the front steer angle and

forward speed of the tractor. It has two parts: a lateral
model and a longitudinal model. The driver model simply
maintains the vehicle motion on the correct trajectories for
various conditions.
4.1. Lateral Driver Sub-model
The task of the lateral driver model in the simulation is to
make the front of the tractor unit move along the desired
path. This is achieved by proportional control, based on
single-point preview (Guo and Guan, 1993). The front road
wheel steer angle is limited to 45. The preview distance
was set to be 0 m in the simulations.
4.2. Longitudinal Driver Sub-model
The longitudinal driver model maintains constant speed
when additional traction torque is needed (for instance,
uphill or along a slippery road). A proportional controller is
employed to achieve the desired vehicle speed by applying
an appropriate driving torque on the tractor drive axle.
Changes in drive torque and wheel speed at the tractor
drive axle were captured by the following equation of
motion for each wheel:

IR = Tr Fx,2Rw
(17)

5. TRAILER STEERING SUB-MODEL

The trailer steering sub-model determines the steer angle of
each trailer axle according to the steering control law. Two
steering options were considered in this project: the
conventional non-steering system and the path-following
trailer steering system (Cheng, 2009).
In practice, the limits on the steer angle of each trailer
axle depend on the suspension geometry and chassis width.
For the dollies and the B-trailer, the steer angle of each axle
is limited to 33.5; while for the A-trailers, axles can be
steered no more than 16.7, 16.7 and 23.5 respectively.
These values correspond to those of the Cambridge Vehicle
Dynamics Consortium (CVDC) test vehicle units (Jujnovich,
2005), which is later on used to validate the model.

6. VERTICAL LOAD SUB-MODEL

The vertical load sub-model calculates the vertical load on
each wheel. This has a static component plus a component
due to lateral load transfer. Details are given below.

MODELING MULTI-UNIT VEHICLE DYNAMICS FOR LOW-SPEED PATH-FOLLOWING ASSESSMENT OFF-HIGHWAY 305

6.1. Static Vertical Load

The static vertical load is determined from the mass and
dimensions of each vehicle unit. Trailer axle load sharing is
assumed to be perfect for each axle group. The equations
that govern the static vertical load on each axle, Fsz,i, for the
tractor-semitrailer are given below:
d
1
Fsz,i = --- m2g --- , i = 3, 4, 5
e
6

(18)

Fz,hitch = m2 g 6Fz,3

(19)

1
Fsz,2 = ----- ( m1 ag + Fz,hitchb )
4c

(20)

1
Fsz,1 = --- [ ( m1 + m2 )g 6Fz,3 4Fz,2 ]
2

(21)

6.2. Lateral Load Transfer

Steady-state road camber and longitudinal grade can
introduce additional forces in the lateral and longitudinal
directions, proportional to the weight of the vehicle unit.
The lateral force caused by vehicle weight also produces a
roll moment around the roll axis of each vehicle unit. All
these effects are considered by the vehicle dynamics model
developed here.
The lateral load transfer determines the vertical load
transferred to each wheel due to roll motion of the sprung
mass. These variations in vertical tyre force strongly affect
the adhesion available from the tyres and their lateral forcegenerating characteristics. The equation to calculate the
lateral load transfer, Fz,i, is given below.
K ,i i + Fy,i hr,i
Fz,i = ------------------------------Ti

(22)

The overall vertical load on each wheel, Fz,i, is determined by combining the static load with the lateral load
transfer. The equation for overall vertical load is given
below.
Fz,i = Fsz,i Fz,i

x s x Fz ( 1 s )
--- = ------------------------- Cs s
L x
2

(24)

x s y Fz ( 1 s )
--- = ------------------------- C tan
L y
2

(25)

x 2
Cs ----s s
L x
x
Fx = ------------------- + 1 ----s x Fz
L x
1s
x 2
C ----s tan
L y
x
Fy = ----------------------------- + 1 ----s y Fz sign( )
L y
1s

(26)

(27)

For the tyres on non-driving axles, i.e. the front axle of

the tractor unit and all trailer axles, the tyre force submodel is used solely to determine the lateral force generated
by each tyre. The lateral forces can be determined by this
combined tyre model by assuming zero longitudinal slip
for the tyres. Slippery road surfaces were modelled by
reducing the coefficient of friction.
The nominal coefficient of friction in the tyre model was
varied from 0.1 to 0.8 to simulate different adhesion
conditions.

8. PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND MODEL

VALIDATION
Among the possible performance measures for low-speed
manoeuvres, the path-tracking error (off-tracking) at the
follow point (the rear end) of each vehicle unit is of most
interest in this study.
To validate the vehicle model and the steering algorithm,
simulation results for a roundabout manoeuvre on a high-

(23)

7. TYRE FORCE SUB-MODEL

A combined tyre force model, which calculates both
longitudinal and lateral tyre forces, was employed in the
vehicle model. For the tyres on the tractor driving axle,
both longitudinal traction forces and lateral forces are
required for operations on cambered and slippery surfaces
or uphill corners. The combined tyre model (Fancher,
1995) is therefore adopted. This model represents tyres
operating on convention road surfaces, with varying levels
of adhesion. It does not represent tyres operating on muddy
or sand soils as may be found off-road. This limits the
applicable conditions for the model but does not affect the
general conclusions about performance of active steering
off-highway. The tyre force on the tractor driving axle was
calculated using the following equations:

Figure 5. Path-tracking error: Trailer rear end relative to

the 5th wheel for a 450 roundabout on a flat road of high
friction at 10 km/h (model validation).

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Q. MIAO and C. ZONG

friction flat road were compared with field test results for
the same manoeuvre of the CVDC test vehicle, with both
steered and non-steered trailers (Cheng, 2009).
The measured and simulated path-tracking errors are
shown in Figure 5. Whereas the experimental data for the
non-steered trailer shows a path-tracking error of 2.6 m in
this manoeuvre, the error for the steered trailer is less than
0.2 m, which is approximately half the width of a tyre.
The simulated vehicle with the path-following steering
achieves a steady state path error of 0.13 m, while the
conventional tractor-semitrailer exhibited a steady state
path error of 2.6 m. Both match the path-following results
from vehicle tests. The steady lateral off-tracking error of
the path-following controller mainly arises from the
assumption in the control algorithm that the sideslip of
tyres on tractor axles is zero. This assumption is accurate at
extremely low speed (close to 0 m/s) and becomes less
accurate as vehicle speed increases.

9. CONCLUSION
This paper proposes a non-linear dynamics model for
articulated vehicles. This model is able to capture
commonly performed low-speed behaviours of any tractortrailer combination off-highway, such as operating on a
cambered or slippery surface for a roundabout or corner.
Lateral off-tracking distance is an important performance
metric for those manoeuvres. It can be used to assess the
low-speed manoeuvrability of articulated vehicles under
such conditions. Low-speed path-following performance
for this vehicle model agrees well with the vehicle testing
for both steered and un-steered trailers on a flat, high-

friction surface.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThis work was supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
51575224) and the Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium
(CVDC).

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