Vehicle Dynamics

Somnath Sengupta

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 Powertrain

• Conventional Vehicle Powertrain consists of engine and driveline: engine, transmission, drive
shafts, differentials, and the final drive
• Driveline Consists of Clutch, transmission, shafts and wheels
• Modeling approach: Combinations of rotating inertias connected by shaft flexibilities.
• Newton’s second law used to derive the models.
• Lower gear considered, as it will result in higher torque transfers, higher torsion
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 Powertrain Systems
• Propulsion and braking performances, such as maximum speed,
accelerating time, gradeability, and stopping distance, are among the most
important factors to judge in a car
• It is necessary to develop vehicle dynamics models to address vehicle
longitudinal dynamics behavior.
(1)

(2)

Fxf and Fxr are the longitudinal forces of the front and rear axles, respectively
FR the total resistance force acting upon the vehicle

(3)

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Powertrain Systems: with Vehicle Dynamics

(4)

(5)

The longitudinal force of a front or rear axle can be positive or negative during
accelerating and braking.
During accelerating, the powertrain system produces
positive longitudinal force by applying positive driving torque to the wheels.
During braking, the friction brake system and/or electric motor(s) apply negative
braking torque to the wheels and produce negative longitudinal force

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 Vehicle Propulsion Modeling

The engine is modeled by a torque characteristic curve

and a rotary inertia that represents the inertia of
rotational and moving parts of the engine

The engine generates driving torque of Te (we, xθe)

and the gearbox applies Tg as the load to the engine
Equation of the engine’s rotational motion:

(6)

we, xθe and Ie are the engine rotational speed, the throttle position, and
equivalent rotational inertia of engine, respectively. xθe is assumed as a
variable in the range of [0%–100%].

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 Vehicle Propulsion Modeling
The gearbox is the next part of the powertrain.
It is modeled by a pair of gears with ratio of βi
that changes for different gearbox gear ratios, and an
inertia representing the inertia of the gearbox rotational
parts .

(7)

where, Td is the applied load torque from the

differential to the gearbox.
The gearbox rotational speed, wg , is related to the engine speed by: (8)
The differential receives the engine torque after magnification in the gearbox
Suppose the differential is a common open differential, then the differential distributes the
torque, Td equally between the two driving wheels, yet it enables each wheel to have
different speeds.
The governing equation for each differential output is: (9)
Should be Td 6
 Vehicle Propulsion Modeling
During straight line driving, the differential output speeds are equal and related to the
input speed, wg

(10)

Finally, the wheel’s rotational dynamics equation can be written as:

(11)
where, Fx is the total axle’s tractive force, R is the wheel’s effective radius and I w is
the wheel inertia. Assuming the longitudinal slip is very small; the vehicle’s velocity
according to the wheel speed is:
(12)
Now, by combining Equations 6 to 12, the total tractive force can be given as:

(13)

This tractive force can be applied to the vehicle in the front or rear axle depending on the
vehicle powertrain configuration. By substituting the tractive force into the vehicle longitudinal
dynamics equation, Equation 1, the final form of the vehicle equation of motion is given as:

(14) 7
 Vehicle Propulsion Modeling

Where Md is dynamic mass: (15)

As can be seen in Equation 15, the effect of the moving and rotational parts of the
powertrain appears as an additional mass to the vehicle’s actual mass.
By combining Equations 8, 10 and 12, the vehicle speed is found as:
(16)

Please note: The engine torque, Te can be replaced by motor torque, Tm in case of pure electric
vehicle

Ref: Amir Khajepour, Saber Fallah, Avesta Goodarzi “ELECTRIC AND HYBRID VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES, MODELING AND
CONTROL: A MECHATRONIC APPROACH”, Wiley: Chapter 6 8
 Driving Cycles
• Set of speed vs time (based on extensive data when vehicle on road in urban,
highway), indicating several effects like driving pattern, etc of the city/country
• To represent typical road conditions and driving culture
• Analyze emissions/pollutants and fuel consumption
• Typically for conventional vehicles, the driving cycle is performed on a chassis
dynamometer, where tailpipes emissions of the vehicle are collected and
analyzed to assess the emissions rates.
• Types-
– Speed Vs Distance AND Speed Vs Time (different representations)
– Modal (e.g. European NEDC, Japanese 10-15 Mode) and Transient (e.g. American FTP 75,
Artemis cycle)
• Characterized by: Distance, duration and average speed

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NEDC: New European Driving Cycle

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Japanese 10-15 Mode

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FTP-75 (EPA Federal Test Procedure)

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 HWFET
Highway fuel economy test (HWFET) which is used to
assess fuel economy over highway driving cycle

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Artemis Urban Driving Cycle

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MIDC

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 Tire Modeling
• Longitudinal and lateral tire forces as well as self-aligning moment are due
to longitudinal and lateral shear stresses (due to deformations and
distortions of tire in and around contact patch, also friction in contact
patch) at the tire and road patch. Functions of:
– Normal force (figure of tire and forces ): Applied force on rotating tire generates a non-
uniform asymmetric distribution (typically higher in the forward region of contact patch)
of normal stress in contact patch. Due to this non-uniform shape, in addition to reaction
force, produces moments about longitudinal and lateral axes (e.g. Overturning and
rolling resistance moments).
– Longitudinal and lateral slips: Associated with tire distortions and deformations in
contact patch
– Camber Angle: Angle between wheel’s vertical axis of symmetry and z-axis of the local
coordinate system .

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Generation of rolling resistance moment in tire

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 Wheel Side Slip
Wheel Sideslip Angle
• The angle between a wheel’s longitudinal axis of symmetry and the velocity vector at the tire-
ground contact point V is known as wheel or tire sideslip angle. In other words, it is the angle
between the tire’s direction of heading and the tire’s direction of travel.

• where δ is the steering angle and u0,v0 are the longitudinal and lateral velocity of the contact
point, respectively
• During normal driving conditions, the tire’s sideslip angle is low, normally below 2–4 degrees.
However, in severe conditions it can be much higher

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Vehicle Dynamics

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Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion
• Neglecting lateral forces in this model
• In the bicycle model, the two left and right front wheels are represented by one
single wheel at point A
• Similarly the rear wheels are represented by one central rear wheel at point B.
• The steering angles for the front and rear wheels are represented by δf and δr
respectively
• Assuming both front and rear wheels can be steered
• For front-wheel-only steering, the rear steering angle δr can be set to zero
• C= Centre of Gravity of Vehicle
• Wheelbase of the vehicle, L= lf + lr
• Three coordinates to represent motion of vehicle: X, Y and ψ
• X, Y are the inertial coordinates of the location of CoG; ψ represents orientation of
vehicle
• The velocity at CoG makes an angle β with the longitudinal axis of vehicle (called
slip angle of vehicle)

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Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion

Assumption: (At low speeds when lateral forces are small) The velocity vectors at points A
and B are in the direction of the orientation of the front and rear wheels respectively
as the Slip Angles are zero
The velocity vector at the front wheel makes an angle δf with the longitudinal axis of the
vehicle. Likewise, the velocity vector at the rear wheel makes an
Angle δr with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
Total lateral force from both tires: 21
Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion
• Point O is the instantaneous rolling center for the vehicle.
• Point O is defined by the intersection of lines AO and BO which are
drawn perpendicular to the orientation of the two rolling wheels.
• The radius of the vehicle’s path R is defined by the length of the line
OC which connects the center of gravity C to the instantaneous
rolling center O.
• The velocity at CoG is perpendicular to the line OC.
•The direction of the velocity at the CoG with respect to the
longitudinal axis of the vehicle is called the slip angle of the vehicle β
• The heading angle of vehicle: ψ
•Course angle =ϒ = ψ+β

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Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion
• Applying sine rule to triangle OCA

• Applying sine rule to triangle OCB

• From 2.1

• From 2.2

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Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion

If we assume that the radius of the vehicle path changes slowly due to
low vehicle speed, then the rate of change of orientation of the vehicle
must be equal to the angular velocity of the vehicle,

(2.8)
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Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion
Overall equations of motion

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Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion
It was assumed that (as per bicycle model assumption), left and right steering
wheel angles are same, but may not be always so due to the fact that radius of path
of each of these wheel travels is different

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Kinetic Model For Lateral Vehicle Motion
If L small compared to R

Since the radius at the inner and outer wheels are different, we have

Thus the difference in the steering angles of the two front wheels
is proportional to the square of the average steering angle. Such
a differential steer has to be obtained.
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 BICYCLE MODEL OF LATERAL VEHICLE DYNAMICS
• At higher vehicle speeds, the assumption that the velocity at each wheel is in the direction
of the wheel can no longer be made.
• In this case, instead of a kinematic model, a dynamic model for lateral vehicle motion must
be developed. The two degrees of freedom are represented by vehicle lateral position y and
vehicle yaw angle ψ. The vehicle lateral position is measured along the lateral axis of the
vehicle to the point O which is the center of rotation of vehicle. The vehicle yaw angle ψ is
measured with respect to global X axis. The longitudinal velocity of the velocity at the CoG is
denoted by Vx.

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BICYCLE MODEL OF LATERAL VEHICLE DYNAMICS
Ignoring road bank angle

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BICYCLE MODEL OF LATERAL VEHICLE DYNAMICS
• Lateral Tire Forces (Fyf, Fyr): Experimental results show that the lateral tire
force of a tire is proportional to the “slip-angle” for small slip-angles.
• The slip angle of a tire is defined as the angle between the orientation of
the tire and the orientation of the velocity vector of the wheel
Slip angle of the front wheel:
Where θVf is the angle that the velocity vector
makes with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle
and δ is the front wheel steering angle. The
rear slip angle is similarly given by

The lateral tire force for the front wheels

where the proportionality constant Cαf is called the cornering

stiffness of each front tire, and θVf is the front tire velocity angle. The
factor 2 is due to two front wheels.
Similarly the lateral tire for the rear wheels:
where is the cornering stiffness of each rear tire and vr is the rear tire velocity
angle
Reference: R. Rajamani, Vehicle Dynamics and Control, Mechanical Engineering Series, Chapter 2 : 30
LATERAL VEHICLE DYNAMICS
 Steady State Cornering
• The cornering behaviour of a vehicle is an important performance mode often
equated with handling.
• Handling is a loosely used term meant to imply the responsiveness of a vehicle to
driver input, or the ease of control (vehicle-driver combination).
• Driver-vehicle is a “closed loop” system; the driver observes the vehicle direction
or position, and corrects his/her input to achieve the desired motion.
• For purposes of characterizing only the vehicle, “open loop ” behaviour is used.
Open loop refers to vehicle response to specific steering inputs (directional
response)
• Open-loop cornering, or directional response behaviour is to be analysed for low
speed followed by high speed turning.

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 Steady State Cornering: Low Speed turning
• At low speeds, the tires may not develop lateral forces, and usually no slip
and vehicle has the requirement of negotiating a turn.
• If the rear wheels have no slip angle as well, the centre of turn must lie
on the projection of the rear axle.
• The perpendicular from each of the front wheels should pass through the
same point (center of turn). If they do not pass through the same point,
the front tires will fight with each other, while experiencing side slip, in
turn.
• For proper geometry in the turn:

The average angle of the front wheels

(assuming front angles)
is defined as Ackerman Angle:

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 Steady State Cornering: Low Speed turning
• To describe the exact geometry of the front wheels, the terms “Ackerman Steering” or “Ackerman
Geometry” are usually used.
• Errors or deviations from the Ackerman in the left-right steering angles can have considerable impact on
front tire and its wear.
• With correct Ackerman geometry, the steering torques tend to increase consistently with steer angle, thus
providing the driver with a natural feel in the feedback through the steering wheel.
• While in other extremes, the steering torques grow with angle initially, but may diminish beyond a certain
point, and even become negative (tending to steer deeply into the turn); this behaviour is undesirable.
• Off-tracking:
Another aspect of low speed turning is off-tracking that occurs in rear wheels (primarily impact long wheel
base vehicles like trucks and buses), with off –tracking distance can be calculated as:

Ackerman Steering Model:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6uBwudwA5o 33
 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)
• At high speed turning, equations differ as lateral acceleration will be present.
• To counteract lateral acceleration, the tires must develop lateral forces, resulting in slip angle (angle
between direction of heading and its direction of travel) at each wheel.
• The lateral force denoted by Fy is called the “cornering force”, when the camber angle is zero.
• At a given tire load, the cornering force grows with slip angle. At low slip angles, the relation is linear and
given by:

• The proportionality constant Cα is known as “cornering stiffness” and is defined as the slope of the curve
for Fy versus α at α=0. A positive slip produces a negative force (to the left) on the tire, implying that Cα
must be negative
• However, SAE defines cornering stiffness as the negative of the slope, such that Cα takes on a positive value

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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)
• The cornering stiffness (Cα ) depends on:
– Tire size and type (radial or bias ply)
– Number of plies
– Wheel width and tread
– For a given tire (load and inflation pressure)
• Because of the strong dependence of cornering force on
load, tire cornering properties may also be described by the
“Cornering coefficient” which is cornering stiffness divided
by load (usually largest at light loads)

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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)
• Cornering Equations (Bicycle Model)
• At high speeds the radius of turn is much larger than
wheelbase of vehicle. Then small angles can be assumed
And the difference between steer angles on the inside
and outside front wheels will be negligible .
• Thus for convenience, two front wheels can be
represented by one wheel at steer angle,
with a cornering force equivalent to both wheels;
the same for rear wheels.

For a vehicle travelling forward with a speed V

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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)
• For the vehicle to be in a moment equilibrium about CoG, the sum of moments from the
front and rear lateral forces must be zero

• But Mb/L is simply the portion of the vehicle mass carried on the rear axle (i.e., W r/g);
thus the last equation simply tells us that lateral force developed at rear axle must be
Wr/g times the lateral acceleration at that point.
• Solving for Fyf in the same fashion will indicate that the lateral force at the front
axle must be Wf/g times lateral acceleration
Now, Since,

The slip angles of front and rear wheels

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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)

*Derivation provided
at the end of the ppt, after useful links

Now substituting for the slip angle

expressions of αf and αr

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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)
Understeer gradient

This equation is very important

to the turning response properties of a motor vehicle

It describes how the steer angle of the vehicle must

be changed with the radius of turn R, or the lateral acceleration V 2/Rg

The term [Wf/Cαf- Wr/Cαr] determines the magnitude and direction of the steering
inputs required.
It consists of two terms, each of which is the ratio of the load on
the axle (front or rear) to the cornering stiffness of the tires on the axle.
It is called “Understeer gradient” K deg/g

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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)

Three possibilities (for constant radius turn):

1) Neutral Steer:
• No change in steer angle required as the speed
Is varied .
• The steer angle required to make the turn will be equal
to the Ackerman Angle 57.3 L/R
• Physically , the neutral steer corresponds to balance on the vehicle such that
the force of lateral acceleration at the CG causes identical increase in slip angle at both the front and rear wheels

2) Understeer:
• Steering angle to increase with speed, proportion to K(deg/g) times accln.
• Lateral accln. at CoG causes front wheels to slip sideways to greater extent than rear wheels
• This means, to develop lateral force at front wheels necessary to maintain radius of turn,
front wheels to steer to a greater angle

3) Oversteer:
• Steering angle will have to decrease as the speed (and lateral acceleration) is increased.
• In this case, the lateral acceleration at the CoG causes slip angle on the rear wheels to increase
more than front
Outer drift at the rear of the vehicle turns the front wheels inward, thus diminishing radius of turn
The increase in lateral accln. that follows causes rear to drift out even further and the process continues
unless steering angle is reduced to maintain radius of turn

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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)
Change of steer Angle with Speed on constant radius turn:

Three Cases
• Neutral Steer: Steering angle in
order to follow the curve at any
speed= Ackerman Angle
• Understeer: Increases with V2,
reaching double of initial at
characteristic speed
• Oversteer: Steering angle
reduces with V2, becomes =0 at
critical speed

For an understeer Vehicle, when:

For an oversteer Vehicle, (a critical speed above which vehicle will be unstable) when:
‘K’is negative in an oversteer system
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 Steady State Cornering: High Speed turning (Cornering)
Lateral Acceleration Gain (Effect of steering angle in lateral acceleration):
• Purpose of steering a vehicle to produce lateral acceleration,
• Performance evaluation by analyzing ratio of lateral acceleration to steering angle

• When K=0 (neutral steer), ay is determined only through numerator and prop. to V2
• When K>0 (under steer), gain is diminished by second term in denominator
• When K<0 (over steer), second term subtracts from 1, increasing lateral gain
• At critical speed what happens?

YAW Velocity Gain:

• Another reason to steer a vehicle is to change the heading angle, by developing a yaw
velocity (“yaw rate”) . It is the rate of rotation in heading angle

• Substituting r,

• Represents a gain which is proportional to velocity (in neutral steer)

• At critical speed what happens?
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Reference: Thomas D. Gillespie, “Fundamentals of vehicle dynamics”, SAE
 Rollover
• Rollover is the most serious and threatening problem to the
vehicle occupants
• Rollover maybe defined as any maneuver in which the vehicle
rotates 90 degrees or more about its longitudinal axis, such that
the body makes contact with the ground
• It may occur on flat and level surfaces when the lateral
accelerations on a vehicle reach beyond that which can be
compensated by lateral weight shift on the tires
• Cross-slope of the road (or off road) surface may contribute along
with disturbances to the lateral forces arising from curb impacts,
soft ground, or other obstructions that may “trip” the vehicle
• Considering a quasi-static case (neglecting the inertial terms and
accelerations in the roll plane)
• The most rudimentary mechanics involved in rollover of a motor
vehicle can be seen by considering the balance of forces on a rigid
vehicle in cornering
• Rigid vehicle means deflections of suspension and tires are
neglected
• In a cornering maneuver the lateral forces act in the ground plane
to counterbalance the lateral acting at the CoG of vehicle
• The difference in position at which these forces act creates a
moment on the vehicle, which attempts to roll it toward the
outside of turn

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 Rollover
• Assume Vehicle in steady turn (no roll acceleration) also the tire
forces shown are the total for both front and rear
• Transverse slope/cross slope can also be assumed. The angle is
denoted by φ, with a slope downward to the left representing
positive angle
• A cross-slope in this direction helps to counter balance the
lateral acceleration
• Since cross slopes are normally small, sin φ= φ, cos φ=1
• Taking moments about center of contact for the outside tires
yields:

On a level road (φ=0), with no lateral acceleration, this equation

is satisfied when the load on the inside wheels, Fzi = Half of Weight of Vehicle (Mg)
In the presence of lateral acceleration, Fzi can still be maintained at half the
weight of vehicle by proper choice of cross-slope angle

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 Rollover
• As the lateral acceleration builds up, the load on the inside wheels
must diminish.
• It is through this process that the vehicle acts to resist, or counter
balance the roll moment in cornering
• The limit cornering condition will occur when the load on the
inside wheels reaches =0; At this point rollover will begin because
vehicle can no longer maintain equilibrium in the roll plane.
• The lateral acceleration at which roll over begins is the “roll over
threshold” and given by:

With no cross slope, the lateral acceleration

that constitutes the roll over threshold= t/2h

Reference: Thomas D. Gillespie, “Fundamentals of vehicle dynamics”, SAE 45

 Problem: Lateral Dynamics

“Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics ”, Chapter 6, First problem 46

Solutions to Problem: Lateral Dynamics

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Solutions to Problem 5: Lateral Dynamics

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 Useful Links
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjrOsp6S8rA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Al_74aot6U
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvL-YbDOVXM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQIPx4Tjkgc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhzIzNaO95E
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bs2cEyK7Uo
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NTdXhLnA_w
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8UiE7yvO_M

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What is the steady state steering angle required to negotiate a curve with radius ?

Figure(4
)
50
• in figure(4),

• In figure(4),

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• So ,

• SO,

• In the right angle triangle , , so

52
• Similarly in figure(4),

• so,

• In right angle triangle ,

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• So in the figure(4)

• Under the assumption that the road radius is

much larger than the wheel base() , so chord
length approximately equal to arc length

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• Hence steady state steering angle () from
equation(17) we can write it as,

Here equation(18) is in the RADIAN form.

• So equation(18) can be written in DEGREE form
as,

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