Abstract: An active anti-roll control method was proposed for a roll stability of a semi-trailer. A seven-degree of freedom (7-DOF) vehicle dynamic model and a three-degree of freedom reference model were established. An Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) was adopted to estimate the lateral load transfer rate (LTR). A model predictive control (MPC) theory was used to solve optimal solution of an active anti-roll torque for each axle. Comparative analysis under typical condition was performed in a Simulink / Trucksim co-simulation environment. The results show that the state quantities of the semi-trailer are converged and the lateral load transfer rate is kept within 0.7 with both MPC controller and PID controller. The anti-rolling torque required for the MPC control is smaller and more uniform than those for the PID controller, and the state variables change more stably. Therefore, the MPC controller has a better robustness while improving a roll stability of a semi-trailer.

Key words: semi-trailer , active anti-roll control ,  model predictive control (MPC) theory , roll stability