Stabilization of Articulated Buses Through Hydraulic Joint Control: A Feasibility Study

This study is aimed at investigating the possibility of controlling the lateral stability of a pusher-type articulated buses by means of a passive hydraulic joint, without the aid of other devices or active controls. To this purpose, a single-track model is considered in both a steady-state straight-ahead running maneuver and in a steady-state cornering maneuver. Stability analysis is performed, presenting a preliminary and novel tuning procedure for the hydraulic joint. It is shown that in straight-ahead running, it is always possible to identify sets of values for the stiffness and damping of the joint able to stabilize the vehicle up to a relatively high travelling speed, while locking the joint is not a solution for the stability problem. The torsional stiffness of the joint also has non-negligible effects on the attitude of the vehicle during cornering. In this case, increasing both the torsional stiffness and damping of the joint have stabilizing effects.