A terminal sliding mode based torque distribution control for an individual-wheel-drive vehicle

Abstract

This paper presents a torque distribution method for an individual-wheel drive vehicle, in which each wheel is controlled individually by its own electric motor. The terminal sliding mode technique is employed for the motion control so as to track the desired vehicle motion obtained by interpreting the driver’s commands. Thus, finite-time convergence of the system’s dynamic errors can be achieved on the terminal sliding manifolds, as compared to the well-used linear sliding surface. By considering nonlinear constraints of the tire adhesive limits, a simple yet effective distribution strategy is introduced to allocate the motion control efforts to each of the four wheels. Through the use of a high-fidelity CarSim full-vehicle model, vehicle stability and handling performance of the proposed controller is evaluated in both open- and closed-loop simulations.