tractor towing a trailer in vehicle dynamics blockset problem

there is a guidance "Use the Vehicle track parameter to specify the number of tracks'' in mathwork site for vehicle dynamics blockset/vehicle body, but I can't find any options to add an extra axle to vehicle body in simulink using vehicle dynamics blockset, having said that the example,

Three-Axle Tractor Towing a Trailer

use a mid axle but I could'nt change the vehicle body configuration in vehicle dynamics blockset. How can I add an extra axle to the 3 DOF vehicle body?

Answer 1

[Mike Sasena]

Hi Aria,

You can add axles and tracks to the Suspension blocks at will, but our Trailer and Vehicle body blocks (whether 3DOF or 6DOF) do not allow the addition of tracks or axles in a flexible manner. We have 2 and 3 axle vehicle bodies, and 2 and 3 axle trailer bodies for both 3DOF and 6DOF cases. Presently we only offer only 2 track configuration for all vehicle and trailer bodies.

Thanks,

Mike

[Aria Noori Asiabar]

Thanks Mike. You mentioned " We have 2 and 3 axle vehicle bodies, and 2 and 3 axle trailer bodies for both 3DOF and 6DOF cases" but I couldn't find this option of having three axle in vehicle body models.

[Mike Sasena]

Aria, apologies for the poor communication on my part. Here are the options that are available in R2020a:

Vehicle Body:

• 3DOF with 2 axles (single or dual track)
• 3DOF with 3 axles (single or dual track)
• 6DOF with 2 axles

Trailer:

• 3DOF with 2 axles (single or dual track)
• 3DOF with 3 axles (single or dual track)

If you need other variants (e.g., 6DOF vehicle with 3 axles), please reach out to me directly using the email link so we can discuss options.

[Bogdan Bodnarescu]

Hello, what do I need to modify in the example to simulate an electric axle on the Trailer?

Can I give unequal Force or Torque on the electric axle?

[Mike Sasena]

Yes, you have complete freedom to connect those trailer blocks to any kind of torque source that makes sense for your application. For example, look at this example. You'll see how axle torque is an input that you can customize, as needed. You can split the torque equally, or do a torque vectoring controller to modify handling behavior.

You might also be interested in this presentation from MATLAB EXPO 2019. Kevin Oshiro from the MathWorks team showed different applications of the models from Vehicle Dynamics Blockset, including one example with a torque vectoring algorithm. The slides include references to research papers and other resources you might find useful.

[Bogdan Bodnarescu]

Hello, I saw the Example already, but I want to give Torque unequally to the Trailer model, not to the Truck model, I was wondering if this is ok and if it will simulate correctly or there will be some problems?

I will check the presentation carefully and let you know if I still have questions.

Thanks!

[Mike Sasena]

There shouldn't be any restriction on whether or not the axle torque is applied equally to the left and right side of the trailer.