5

5.1

Theory of ABS Operation

Tyre-Pavement Interaction

Anti-Lock Braking Systems are intended to control tyre slip at the tyre-pavement surface. The physics of this interaction is complex but an overview is appropriate here so that the conditions can be identified when ABS is likely to be beneficial to vehicle dynamic control.

The behaviour of static forces that a tyre can produce during braking are illustrated in Figure 1. The maximum retardation forces occur when the wheel slip is about 10%. The ability of a tyre to provide sideways forces (which are stabilizing and manoeuvring forces) falls off consistently as the wheel slips. The maximum retardation and sideways forces that a tyre-road interface can supply also falls off with surface smoothness, water / ice / loose material on the road and as the weight on the tyre is reduced. (Note that the sideways forces also depend on steer angle, which is not shown). For small slip levels the tyre maintains rolling contact with the road. If the demanded braking force exceeds the peak of the applicable curve, the tyre will lock and sideways control will be lost. For example, a desired force level X can be supplied on rough pavement but not on smooth pavement. The maximum retardation force that a tyre can provide is proportional to x Weight where is the friction coefficient that describes the interaction between the tyre and the surface. If a tyre locks at full load with full braking on a = 0.6 surface, it will lock at about a third of the braking force on this surface when the weight is reduced to 1/3. This graph illustrates the behaviour of one wheel on a pavement. When there are multiple wheels in an axle group the wheel slips of tyres may differ but each independently behaves as illustrated. The greater the number of tyres the greater are the maximum available horizontal forces and the greater the load carrying capacity. The conventional wisdom is that lock-up on some wheels can be tolerated as long as at least one wheel on each side in the group has not locked. This wisdom can be re-expressed as follows: Adequate sideways forces to maintain stability can be supplied by the group when one wheel on each side of the axle group is rolling. There will be sharper turns on poor surfaces for which the demanded sideways forces cannot be provided by one wheel rotating in a group. This is particularly true for a tri-axle group in comparison to a tandem group.

Braking / Stability Force transmitted from tyre to road

Both the longitudinal and the transverse forces that the tyre can transmit to the road are reduced by: Reduced road friction (wet, greasy, loose, frozen,..) Reduced tyre friction (bald, hard compound, patterns, bad pressure..) Longitudinal traction & braking Reduced contact pressure Transverse- stability, Rough pavement steering (poor inflation, skipping, unloading,..) ~0.8g Slide values Smooth pavement / wet surface 0.3 0.4 g

~0. 8g X ~0. 44

Gravel surface 0.2 0.4g Ice ~ 0.1g

~10 % slip Wheel slip =

100% wheel slip

0 % is free wheeling. 100 % is fully locked. Maximum braking forces occur when wheel slip is about 10%

Figure 1 Illustration of the relationship between tyre slip and friction utilization. Percentage tyre slip measures the extent to which the tyre is turning relative to the free running rotational speed. For example an 11R22.5 tyre which has free rolling turns of 315 turns / km may turn at 290 turns / km during braking. The wheel slip is about 8%. Tyre-pavement friction level depends upon the road surface roughness, lubriction / water and the tyre characteristics.

Normalized Braking Force

Extra retardation due to piling effect

Slip

Figure 2

Domain of ABS operation. (Courtesy Robert Bosch)

5.2

Stability Considerations

Three dynamic modes of a semi-trailer that experiences wheel lock-up are shown in Figure 3. Steerwheel lock-up is stable in that the vehicle continues generally straight ahead however steer-ability is lost. Braking effort from the rear wheels tends to straighten the combination vehicle out. Drive-wheel lock-up can result in jack-knife, which is sideways sliding of the drive axle group (primemover jack-knife) resulting in the vehicle folding up. The prime-mover provides some of the braking retardation for the trailer when it is moderately or heavily laden. This force is transmitted via the kingpin and it causes an equal and opposite reaction on the prime-mover which may produce a twisting moment on it. If the retardation from the trailer tri-axle group is low as a result of poor brake balance the trailer tends to over-ride the prime-mover and this exacerbates the tendency to jackknife.

If the retardation force from the trailer tri-axle group is proportionately strong then the tendency is to pull the vehicle straight however, this situation will often be associated with trailer-wheel lock-up. If the trailer wheels lock-up the trailer may swing sideways (trailer swing).

On a B-DoubleB-double combination there are retarding or over-riding forces from the following trailer that can lessen or exacerbate the trailer swing. Severe trailer swing on the lead-trailer causes a trailer jack-knife mode. As for the semi-trailer case the lead trailer provides some of the retardation for the second trailer and this force is transmitted via the kingpin on the front trailer. If the brake balance is poor the forces transmitted via the king pin will be smaller or larger than optimum.

Drive axle jack-knife is a severe dynamic behaviour because it occurs quickly (much quicker than trailer swing) and is very difficult to correct once started. Many Australian prime movers have a separate trailer brake control. One reason this is done is to provide the driver with a control that can increase trailer braking relative to prime-mover braking and so pull the rig straight if a jack-knifing tendency exists or could develop. More generally the trailer hand-piece is used to bias the braking to the trailer. To achieve stable and controllable dynamic behaviour during braking an articulated truck should have a balanced braking distribution and fast application times to the trailer(s). Because the weight on a truck is highly variable it is necessary to have load-proportioning brakes to achieve acceptable brake balance (see Hart, Ref[9], 2003). However, in a fleet where some vehicles have load-proportioning brakes and some do not, serious braking incompatibility will occur when combination vehicles are formed with some parts having load sensing and some not.

ABS can greatly improve stability on a truck, particularly if the brake balance is poor, by controlling wheel lock-up and thereby allowing the tyre to provide lateral stability forces. Stopping distance may also be shortened if the ABS is installed for select-high but this is at the expense of stability / cornering forces. A select high configuration senses the wheels that are least likely to lock so as to achieve minimum stopping distances. A select low algorithm trades stopping distance for enhanced stability and simplified system design. Most current systems employ more intelligent control algorithms selectsmart which allows the wheel with high adhesion to enter a deeper slip in order to get the wheel with low adhesion closer to the optimum slip. This produces a better trade-off between stopping distance and lateral stability. A subjective rating of the likely severity of poor heavy truck dynamics that arises from various axle group lock-up events is given in Table 1. It provides a guide to the relative importance of the control of wheel lock-up on the various axle groups. This consideration is important because ABS is often used only on some vehicle parts of a combination vehicle.

The greatest safety benefits come from controlling the drive-wheel lock-up and secondly the wheel lock-up on the lead trailer of a B-DoubleB-double.

Figure 3

Three dynamic modes of a semi-trailer that is experiencing tyre-pavement slip or skidding.

5.3

Antilock System Configuration

The purpose of ABS operation is to prevent a controlled wheel from locking-up. It does this by monitoring the wheel speed of sensed wheels and predicts when lock-up is imminent. The brake air pressure to the controlled wheels is then either held or released in a controlled way to allow the sensed wheel to turn at optimum wheel slip speed (< 10% slip). Additionally the ABS may disable the auxiliary brake system (retarder).

There are three elements to a typical ABS system:

The Electronic Control Module, which monitors the wheel speed signals, computes the slipperformance on the sensed wheels and operates the modulator valves.

The Wheel Sensors produce a signal with a frequency proportional to wheel speed; and

The Modulator Valve that is controlled by the ECM to either block the brake air line to the brake chambers (thereby holding the brake pressure) or exhaust the brake line to the chambers (thereby reducing brake effort).

The potential benefits of ABS are: Improved vehicle stability under braking. Shorter stopping distances. Improved driver control when braking on slippery surfaces. Protection against jack knife. Reduction in tyre flat spotting particularly on trailers.

ABS achieves these benefits modifying the braking effort at controlled wheels and thereby increases the utilization of the available friction and allows tyres to provide near optimum braking and lateral (stabilizing) forces

A common ABS scheme for an Australian B-DoubleB-double is shown in Figure 4.

ABS configurations are described by the number of sensors and the number of modulator valves on the vehicle. For example, a system that has six sensors and four modulation valves is denoted as 6S / 4M. If the vehicle has six wheels (such as a 6 x 4 prime-mover) then it follows that all wheels are sensed but some wheels share modulation valves.

A 4S / 3M system has four sensors and three modulation valves. At least one modulation valve must be controlling wheels on each side.

Figure 4

Typical ABS layout for an Australian B-DoubleB-double. All wheels in a group are controlled. Trailer systems are usually either 2S/1M or 2S/2M. 4S/2M, 4S/3M, 6S/3M types are can be used but are uncommon.

Usually the prime-mover ABS has four sensors and four modulation valves (denoted 4S/4M). The one modulation valve controls the drive wheels on each side. Other systems that can be used are 6S/4M (6 sensors and four modulators) and 6S/6M (6 sensors and 6 modulators). The 6S/4M system can produce marginally shorter stopping distances than a 4S/4M system (Ref[6], p123) whilst the 6S/6M system ensures that no wheel-lock-up occurs.

The wheel sensor can be installed either on the front- or rear-drive axle. This choice affects the ABS performance if there is substantial load transfer during heavy braking. Significant load transfers occur to the front when the centre of mass of the truck and trailer are substantially higher than the wheel level. The physics of the suspension reaction is also important*. The usual situation during heavy braking is that the tyres on the rear drive axle have lower contact pressures with the road than do the tyres on the front drive axle. Consequently the rear-axle tyres tend to lock at lower brake application pressures than do the front-drive axle tyres.

If the wheels on the front-drive axle are sensed then it is possible that the tyres on the rear-drive axle will lock-up during heavy braking causing tyre wear. This configuration produces the shortest

stopping distance but some of the benefits of reduced tyre wear are lost. Stability benefits are also reduced because the rear-axle tyres are skidding.

If the tyres on the rear axle are sensed then both front-drive and rear-drive tyres will be modulated when lock-up of the rear-drive tyre is imminent . Tyre flat-spotting does not occur because the lockup is prevented at all wheels. However, this is achieved by reducing the brake effort on the frontdrive axle wheels and so the stopping distance performance is poorer. Current generation ABS systems take account of these effects is optimized. Tests show that the stopping distance of these systems is invariably better than for a vehicle without ABS.

Recommendations* by Buckman (Ref[6], 1998) are that On a tandem axle vehicle with a 4S/4M ABS system, it is important to mount the sensors on the rear axle that is most likely to be lightly laden during a brake stop. Typically this will be the forward tandem axle in the case of a vehicle with a mechanical spring suspension. On a vehicle with an air suspension, the sensors are normally mounted on the rear tandem axle since this axle is most likely to be more lightly loaded and more susceptible to lock during severe braking.

* As a general rule air-bag suspensions have suspension reactions that throw weight forward and trailer spring suspensions tend to throw weight backwards.

On 6x2 prime-movers (that is with an undriven rear-rear axle) the driven axle is usually sensed. This provides the best stopping distance but with some risk of tyre flat-spotting on the undriven axle. 6S/6M systems are recommended for this case (Ref[6], p106) but 4S/4M systems are usually installed. 4S / 3M systems that use one modulator for both steer wheels and adopt a select low strategy for the front (drive?)drive axle are apparently used in the USA but not in Australia (Ref[6], p108). Trailer ABS systems can be either 2- or 4-sensor systems. In 2-sensor (2S/2M and 2S/1M) systems the rear axle of the tri-axle group for an air-suspension or the front-axle for a spring suspension is usually sensed (see Figure 4). Four sensor systems (4S/2M) are less commonly used. They typically sense wheels on the front and the rear axles of a tri-axle group. Sensors are not fitted to lift-axles.

There is a trend to the use of 2S/1M systems on trailers because one manufacturer (Bendix) has integrated the modulator and ECM into one value housing which has resulted in cost reductions. 2S/1M trailer systems are acceptable under the USA (and Canadian) braking rule FMVSS 121 and are apparently widely used on North American trailers. It is noted that US semi-trailers usually have tandem axle group whereas Australian trailers usually have a tri-axle group. Commercial changes currently occurring could see the Bendix 2S/1M system disappear in Australia.

ABS systems are usually optimized for highway use. When a truck stops on a gravel road there is a tendency for wheels to routinely lock-up and for wedges of material to build up in front of wheels when they are braked. This action is an important behaviour that assists stopping (but with no assistance to maintaining lateral stability). ABS modulation of the brakes can cause unacceptably long stopping distances because the system reacts to and tries to prevent the wedge affect. The effect is illustrate in Figure 2 (snow). Some ABS systems have an off-road function (Ref [6], p111) that applies an altered control algorithm for vehicle speeds below about 40 km/h and disables the ABS for speeds below 15 km/h. The off-road function provides a compromise that produces acceptable stopping distances (with some wheel lockup at low speeds) and improved stability at higher speeds (with wheel lock-up prevented). The offroad mode can be activated manually or by an interlock with say differential-lock selection. Most ABS systems used in Australia have this feature but it is rarely if ever used. Some commentators have stated that current ABS systems do not modulate braking activity at vehicle speeds below about 15 km/h and that this does allow gravel piling to occur in the final stages of the stop.

Tests show that the stopping performance of a single combination vehicle with ABS properly installed is shorter than a comparable truck without ABS in all situations other than braking on a loose surface (e.g. a gravel road). Stopping distance improvement of 16 46% are claimed for a laden semi-trailer combination (Ref*6+, p123). The greatest improvement occurs on split-coefficient surfaces (when the ABS has split-mu configuration).

5.4

ABS Auxiliary Brake Control

ABS systems for motive vehicles usually have a auxiliary brake (retarder) control function. This disables the retarder (if it is conectedconnected) during ABS intervention. This feature is provided so that optimum control of wheel slip can be implemented by the ABS, which is not possible if the

retarder is also acting on the drive wheels. It has the secondary benefit that it controls retarderinduced wheel lock-up.

Engine brakes often have the same nominal power rating as the engine. There has been substantial increase in the rating of these retarders over recent years. If for example, the prime-mover has a 600Hp engine (450 kW at 2100 RPM) then the engine brake retardation force that is applied to the drive wheels at an assumed engine speed of 1597 RPM at 100km/h is about 12.2 kN. [450 kW x 1597/2100 / (55.5 Rad/sec x 0.505m); Overdrive gear 0.78, Differential ratio 3.9, Tyre turns/km = 315].

If the truck weighs 15t unladen then this retardation force will produce a 0.08g stop. This stop corresponds to low service braking effort. Because the retardation forces only act on the drive wheels, there is likelihood of wheel lock-up on a poor or slippery surface. If the drive axle weight is 8t in the unladen state then the adhesion utilization demand is about 0.16. A wheel will lock if the retardation force / dynamic weight is at this level.

ABS will sense drive wheel lock-up due to retarder action and will both modulate the braking effort (when the service brakes are applied) and disable the retarder. Because retarder action is usually automatic once the throttle is relaxed there is a potential safety benefit if the ABS having veto control over the auxiliary brakes.

5.5

ABS for Road Train Combinations

ABS has been fitted to a few Road Trains on a trial basis. The trials had 2S/2M systems on dolly trailers and 4S/2M on the semi-trailers. The installations are complex because there are many separate ABS systems (one per trailer) and consequently large numbers of electrical connectors. Because trailer systems must be supplied at 12V, significant technical problems arise from voltage drops. Two of the trial installations had switch-mode power supplies fitted to achieve adequate voltage stability. ABS is unproven on Road Train trailers. It is expensive because of the number of trailers involved and may suffer unacceptable voltage drops without special electrical design. It is plausible that ABS will improve the dynamic stability of a Road Train. However, there is inadequate experience of ABS on Road Trains to be certain that benefits will occur and the technical challenges are great so that reliability is an issue.

5.6

Summary
Anti-Lock Braking systems will improve the dynamic stability under braking of a combination vehicle if the system configuration is well-engineered. The benefits of ABS can be: Improved vehicle stability under braking. This results because a locked wheel can provide low lateral stability forces. Shorter stopping distances. Improved driver confidence when braking on slippery surfaces. Protection against jack knife. Reduction in tyre flat spotting particularly on trailers. The main improvement in stability will come from preventing wheel-lock at the drive axle wheels and at the lead-trailer wheels in the case of a B-DoubleB-double. Four channel systems (denoted 4S/4M) are usually used on prime-movers. Usual practice is to sense the wheels most likely to lock (which is the rear axle on an airsuspension and the front-axle on a spring suspension). Trailers now often have 2S/1M systems, which is a relatively new development. One modulation valve controls all wheels in a tri-axle group. ABS will increase stopping distances on gravel roads. Some ABS have an off-road function that alters the operation at lower speeds (< 40 km/h) and allows some wheel lock to facilitate stopping. ABS can veto retarder operation. This potentially improves vehicle safety because modern retarders have the potential to lock-up drive wheels on slippery surfaces and under adverse circumstances. Because of the large number of axle groups on a Road Train together with the requirement to supply ABS on trailers with 12V power, ABS is unproven on Road Trains.