Development of a Rollover-Warning Device for Road Vehicles
Open Access
Author:
Goldman, Robert W
Graduate Program:
Mechanical Engineering
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
August 24, 2001
Committee Members:
Barbara E Kulakowski, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Moustafa El Gindy, Committee Member Christopher Rahn, Committee Member Ageliki Elefteriadou, Committee Member
This dissertation describes the research and development of a rollover-warning device (RWD) to be used for road vehicles, particularly heavy vehicles with high center-of-gravity height to track-width ratios. The RWD uses Artificial Neural Networks to essentially ‘learn’ the dynamics of a road vehicle and make a prediction of the instantaneous roll stability using dynamic states of the vehicle that are relatively easy to measure. The state of the dynamic roll stability, specifically the load-transfer ratio (LTR), is used in conjunction with the rate of change of LTR as inputs to the RWD based upon a Fuzzy Logic rule-base for determination of an output warning level. The device is based upon extensive computer simulation and verified using experimentally acquired data. Due to the fact that the device is passive and therefore depends upon the driver of the vehicle to take corrective action, the success of the device is limited to helping with dangerous maneuvers that develop slowly, such as during an on-ramp maneuver.
