Development of A Novel Control-Oriented Vehicle Model for Tire Blowout: An Impulsive Differential System Approach

Hazardous and inevitable tire blowout accidents significantly threaten vehicle stability and road safety, and need to be safely controlled. An authentic model to describe tire blowout impacts on vehicle dynamics is crucial for model-based control design. However, existing vehicle models typically simplify the forces and/or moments caused by tire blowout as continuous and smooth (differentiable) disturbances, and thus consist of normal linear or nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). To accurately describe tire blowout impacts that correspond to an intensive and quick physical process, this paper proposes a new control-oriented vehicle model through an impulsive differential system (IDS) approach. In the IDS-based vehicle model, the lateral force and moment caused by tire blowout, are described by impulsive inputs that are not differentiable. Consequently, vehicle states are modeled by impulsive differential equations instead of ODEs. Through both simulation and experimental results, the proposed IDS-based control-oriented model is more accurate than existing models in describing tire blowout impacts on vehicle dynamics. The developed model will benefit the control design of tire blowout to ensure vehicle stability and safety on road.