Abstract:Vehicles which bank in turns include bicycles and motorcycles as well as some trains and proposed commuter vehicles. In this paper, those banking vehicles are considered in which at speed at least, the tilt angle is controlled by steering the front or the front and rear wheels. A model of the dynamics of tilting is derived relating steer angles to the body tilt angle using the assumption of negligible tire slip angles to relate turn geometry to accelerations. A simple control scheme involving tilt angle shows the necessity of counter steering before a turn and is related to the reverse action associated with non-minimum phase systems. The possible benefits to front and rear wheel steering as has been proposed for racing motorcycles are explored. Possible adverse reactions of steering on actively tilted vehicles such as "half lane" commuter vehicles are discussed.

Note:Published in Transportation Systems, ASME DSC, vol. 44.