Developing an analytical tyre model that estimates tyre forces using a least squares method

The use of control systems, especially vehicle dynamic control systems, is increasing at a remarkable rate. A key parameter that affects the performance of a vehicle dynamic control system is the interaction forces between the tyre and the road since these forces determine the acceleration, braking and steering properties of a car. Consequently, the accurate estimate of these forces is highly desired. Technical limitations and cost considerations mean that it is standard practice to estimate this data instead of performing measurements. Since available tyre models are generally an algebraic representation of the actual tyre and neglect variations in road conditions and uncertainties, an improved model for vehicle dynamic control applications is required. This paper proposes a tyre model which is formulated based on the least squares method and variable exponential forgetting estimation. The proposed estimator calculates tyre forces using information obtained from the sensors in a vehicle dynamic control system. The performance and robustness of the proposed tyre model is evaluated via virtual handling simulations in ADAMS software.