An estimation process for vehicle wheel-ground contact normal forces

Abstract: This paper presents a new methodology for estimating wheel-ground contact normal forces, commonly known as vertical forces. The proposed method uses measurements from currently available standard sensors (accelerometers and relative suspension sensors). The aim of this study is to improve vehicle safety, especially to prevent rollover problems. One particular feature of the method is the separation of the estimation process into three blocks. The first block serves to identify the vehicle’s weight, the second block contains a linear observer whose main role is to estimate the one-side lateral transfer load, while the third block calculates the four wheel vertical forces using a nonlinear observer. The different observers are based on the Kalman filter. The estimation process is applied and compared to real experimental data obtained in real conditions. Experimental results validate and prove the feasibility of this approach.