Advances in Intelligent Systems Research, volume 165

International Conference on Modeling, Simulation, Optimization and Numerical Techniques (SMONT 2019)

Design and Error Analysis of The Linkage Type

Steering Mechanism for Multiple Wheel Heavy
Vehicle
Chunguo Zhou*, Tao Hua, Huiwu Wang and Xiuyu Wang
School of Mechanical and Precision Instrumental Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi'an, China, Zip: 710048.
*
Corresponding author

Abstract—In this paper, the steering system dimension of II. THE DESIGN OF CENTER-ARM-LINKAGE-TYPE STEERING
multiple wheel heavy vehicle which is composed of center-arm MECHANISM
linkage type steering mechanism has been designed. The steering
mechanism of the vehicle is composed of five axles of Watt-II A. Steering Principle and Composition of Multi-wheel
center-arm six-bar mechanism. The vehicle is designed to meet Steering Mechanism
the steering requirements. Based on the Ackerman principle of
vehicle steering, the mathematical model of steering mechanism
As heavy-duty vehicles with multiple wheel and large load,
is established, and the precise steering angle is determined. Then want to make the move when the steering wheel to keep
the corresponding calculation program has been written by using rolling contact with the ground without sliding, wheel
MATLAB software, and the Broyden’s iterative algorithm has deflection must satisfy the Ackerman Principle[3,4] (as Figure
been used. The each bar dimensions of the center-arm six-bar I). In other words, The front wheel alignment angle of
mechanism has been obtained through cyclic approximation.
Finally, the kinematics simulation and error analysis of the
steering mechanism are carried out, and the results show that the
steering mechanism can meet the steering requirements of the
vehicle.

Keywords—heavy vehicle; six bar mechanism; dimension

design; Ackerman principle

I. INTRODUCTION
With the development of our economy, special vehicles
and engineering vehicles gradually to the development
direction of large-scale and heavy-duty, most of these vehicles FIGURE I. THE CORNER RELATION OF INSIDE AND OUTSIDE CAR
have more than two steering axles. The more the number of WHEE
axles, the more difficult for vehicle steering and getting
through in complex curve road, its steering performance have
directly effect on vehicle agility, manipulate stability and use
economy, so it has very real significance to research
multi-shaft vehicles. Optimal steering process requires all
wheels to be in a pure rolling state without sliding, or only
little slippage; or else large slippage can aggravate wheel’s
wear and tear. Reasonable steering mechanism can reduce
steering resistance and achieve the purpose of light steering.
This article aim at the research on the multi-axle Watt-II
center-arm six-bar steering mechanism for heavy vehicle with
multiple wheel[1,2], which aims to promote a kinematic point
of view to improve the dimension of the
center-arm-linkage-type six bar mechanism in order to
improve the steering performance of the heavy vehicle with 1- toggle arm 2- center-arm 3- linkage 4- tension rod K- body width
multiple wheel. FIGURE II. THE FIVE SHAFTS OF WATT-II CENTER-ARM SIX BAR
MECHANISM

Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

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 Advances in Intelligent Systems Research, volume 165

automobile that is equal to zero, walking system is rigid, car a j   a1  b j   b1 

driving course under the premise of no lateral force, during the  1    D 1 j 1   1   1    D 1 j 3   1 
whole turning process all the wheels must be make circular        
motion around the same instantaneous center on the ground,
the steering angle of the wheel should satisfy the following c j   c1  d j  d1 
formula:  1    D 1 j 3   1   1    D 1 j 5   1 
       

cot  cot  K L (1)  cos( g j ) sin ( g j ) 0

 D 1 j 1     s i n ( g j ) co s( g j ) 0
In this paper, a steering device composed of a five-axle  
Watt-II center-arm six-bar mechanism is taken as an object of  0 0 1 
study(as Figure II). The six-bar mechanism used in the
steering device is Watt-II, the five six-bar mechanisms  cos( j )  sin( j ) c0 x [1  cos( j )]  c0 y sin( j )
connected by five rod, the first rod is connected to steering
power to realize multi-wheel steering of heavy-duty
D    sin(
1 j3 j) cos( j ) c0 y [1  cos( j )]  c0 x sin( j )
vehicles[5,6]. When the vehicle is steering, tension rod 4  0 0 1 
drived by steering rocker, through the linkage 3 drive toggle
arm to rotate, so that multi-wheel vehicle turn around the same  cos(h j ) s in ( h j ) 1  cos(h j ) 
 D 1 j 5     s in ( h j ) s in ( h j ) 
center to meet the Ackerman principle.
 cos(h j )
B. Mathematical Model of Center-arm Six-bar Steering  0 0 1 
Mechanism
Establishment of two dimensional coordinate system for To solve the value of b1x, b1y, c0y, put the above equations
the center-arm six-bar mechanism(as Figure III). Take a0 as into type(2), obtained:
the origin, assume that the body width is unit length "1"[7],
then the coordinate points of the six bar mechanism are: a0(0,
0), a1(0, a1y), b1(b1x, b1y),c0(0.5, c0y), c1(1-b1x, b1y), d1(1, a1y),  E 1 j c o s ( j )  F1 j s in ( j )  G 1 j
b0(1, 0), if we can know a1y, b1x, b1y, c0y, then 
a0,a1,b1,c1,d1,b0,c0 have been fixed, so the dimension of the
 E 2 j c o s ( j )  G 2 j s in ( j )  G 2 j
Watt-II-center-arm-linkage-type six-bar mechanism can be
fixed. As a1y is fixed-length which has been determined in  G 1 j F 2 j  G 2 j F1 j
advance, so just solve the value about b1x, b1y, c0y.  c o s ( j )  E 1 j F 2 j  E 2 j F1 j
 (3)

 s in ( )  E1 jG 2 j  E 2 jG1 j
 j
E 1 j F 2 j  E 2 j F1 j


in type(3), according to cos 2 ( j )  sin 2 ( j )  1 , obtained:

(E1jG2 j  E2 jG1 j )2 (G1j F2 j G2 j F1j )2 (E1j F2 j  E2 j  F1j )2  0 (4)

FIGURE III. THE CENTER-ARM SIX BAR MECHANISM TURN
RIGHT in this type:
Suppose that when the vehicle turns, the rotation angle of
a0a1,b0d1 and the center-arm are gj, hj, θj. when vehicle turn a E1 j  2[ M 1 j ( c0 x  b1 x )  N 1 j ( c0 y  b1 y )]
corner, make a1, b1, c1, d1 turn to aj, bj, cj, dj. The design
equation of the mechanism is equal length constraint equation F1 j  2[  N 1 j ( c 0 x  b1 x )  M 1 j ( c 0 y  b1 y )]
of a1b1,c1d1[8]:
E 2 j  2[  M 2 j ( c 0 x  c1 x )  N 2 j ( c0 y  c1 y )]

 ( a jx  b jx ) 2  ( a jy  b jy ) 2  ( a1 x  b1 x ) 2  ( a1 y  b1 y ) 2 (2) F2 j  2[  N 2 j ( c0 x  c1 x )  M 2 j ( c0 y  c1 y )]

 ( c jx  d jx )  ( c jx  d jy )  ( c1 x  d 1 x )  ( c1 y  d 1 y )
2 2 2 2

G1 j  (a1 y  b1 y ) 2  (a1x  b1x ) 2  (c0 x  b1x ) 2  (b1 y  c0 y ) 2  N1 j  M 1 j

2 2

j =2, 3, 4, 5……
G2 j  (c1 y  d1 y )2  (c1x  d1x )2  (c0 y  c1 y )2  (c0 x  c1x )2  N2 j 2  M 2 j 2
in this type:
which:

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M 1 j  a1 x cos( g j )  a1 y sin( g j )  c 0 x   h3  arc cot[cot( g 2 )  ( k l )]  

N 1 j  a1 x sin( g j )  a1 y cos( g j )  c 0 y   h4  arc cot[cot( g3 )  (k l )]

M 2 j   d 1 x cos( h j )  d 1 y sin( h j )  1  cos( h j )  c 0 x   Fj (E1jG2 j E2 jG1j )2 (G1j F2 j G2 j F1j )2 (E1j F2 j E2 j F1j )2 (5)

N 2 j  d1 x sin( h j )  d1 y cos( h j )  sin( h j )  c0 y By type(4) obtained:

Fj=0, j=2, 3, 4…… (6)

Type(4) is non-linear equations set without unknown
trigonometric functions, which can be solved with selecting Type(6) is non-linear equations set without unknown
the appropriate initial value. trigonometric functions, convert the type (6) to the following
The unknown number θj which is the angular displacement system of linear equations:
of the member c0b1c1 is included in the displacement matrix
[D1j3],its number is (j-1). In Figure III coordinate system, a0b0  F2  c0 y  F 2  b1 x  F 2  b1 y   c0 y    F2 
     
as unit length, then b0=(1,0), a1=(0,a1y), b1=(b1x,b1y), d1=(1,d1y),   F3  c 0 y  F 3  b1 x  F 3  b1 y    b1 x     F3 
 F4  c0 y  F 4  b1 x  F 4  b 1 y    b1 y    F 4 
c0=(0.5,c0y).Then in type (2),the unknown number include    (7)
b1x,b1y ,c1x,c1y,d1y,c0y and θj, the number of unknown number is
U=6+(j-1)=j+5, the number of design equation is V=2(j-1). Let Express the above as: Aδ=-F, A is Jacobian matrix. The
U=V, so j=7. That is to say seven exact points of given Broyden iterative method[12,13] is used to obtain the exact
function can be realized by the Watt-II center-arm six-bar value of the above calculation, the calculation of the above
mechanism designed in this paper[7]. process can be implement through the preparation of the
corresponding MATLAB programs, the flow chart of
III. BROYDEN ITERATIVE METHOD BASED ON MATLAB
MATLAB programming is as follows(as Figure IV).
The value of (gj,hj) in equations set(4) is determine by
Chebyshev theorem[9]. As the heavy-duty vehicle at low By programming, some of the calculated results are
speeds are usually for large angle, assuming the wheel angle obtained(as Table I).
between 10°and 40°[10,11], namely: p=40°, q=10°.
TABLE I. THE DESIGN PARAMETER OF CENTER-ARM(a1y=0.3)

g 2  q  0.067  ( p  q ) L/K c0y b1x b1y

0.5 0.1458 0.4355 -0.0878

g 3  q  0.500  ( p  q ) 0.9 0.1655 0.4354 -0.0870

1.0 0.1854 0.4395 -0.0880
g 4  q  0.933  ( p  q )   1.2 0.2142 0.4491 -0.0906
1.4 0.2312 0.4565 -0.0924
By Ackerman principle type(1), obtained: 1.6 0.2414 0.4616 -0.0934
1.9 0.2499 0.4663 -0.0942
h2  arc cot[cot( g1 )  (k l )]   2.0 0.2517 0.4673 -0.0943

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input

input K/L,determine the exact angle gj by

Chebyshev theorem, obtain hj by type(2)

N
assume the body width is
"1",input initial value b1x, b1x, c0y,
test the validity

program base on Broyden iterative and

calculate the exact values about
b1x,b1y,c0y.

with the actual values of K and L to

calculate the dimension of the six bar
mechanism

output end

FIGURE IV. THE FLOW CHART OF MATLAB PROGRAMMING

IV. DESIGN EXAMPLE

Suppose the vehicle is composed of five-axle center-arm
six bar mechanism. The first axle is longitudinal center, and
the distance from remaining four axle to the first axle are:
L1=1400mm, L2=2800mm, L3=4200mm, L4=5600mm, the
width of body is K=3000mm, namely L1/K=0.5, L2=2800mm,
L3=4200mm, L4=5600mm, the width of body is K=3000mm,
namely L1/K=0.5, L2/K=0.9, L3/K=1.4, L4/K=1.9, Put the above
data into the MATLAB program that can be separately FIGURE V. THE 3D SOLID GRAPHICS OF CENTER-ARM SIX BAR
obtained the dimension of every bar in the five-axle MECHANISM
center-arm six bar mechanism(as Table II).
Thus available the dimension of the center-arm six bar
TABLE II. THE SIZE OF FIVE SHAFTS CENTER-ARM SIX BAR mechanism which satisfy the steering requirement of
MECHANISM (mm) multi-wheel vehicle. It provides reference for further analysis
One Two Three Four Five
and practical design.
S1 639 639 639 639 639 V. SIMULATION AND ERROR ANALYSIS OF STEERING
S2 1242.1 1242.1 1240.8 1282.2 1300.6 DEVICE
S3 516.2 516.2 555.1 695.5 736.4 According to rod length of the five-axle center-arm six bar
mechanism and L1-L4, establish a 3D solid model for its
S4 274.8 274.8 275.2 185.3 143.6 steering by Pro/E(as Figure VI).
S5 1089.4 310.6 1752.5 3292.5 4732.3
Which: S1 is the length of the toggle arm, S2 is the length
of the linkage, S3 is the length of center-arm tripod’s waist, S4
is the length of center-arm tripod’s bottom, S5 is the distance
between the center-arm tripod’s vertices to longitudinal center.
The position of every dimension is as follows(as Figure V).

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Li  cot ( i )  K  L j  cot (  j )

namely:

Lj K
 i  arccot[  cot (  j )  ]
Li Li

in this type:
βi—the left wheel(outer wheel) angle of the center arm
mechanism of the i axle of the vehicle
αi—the right wheel(Inner wheel) angle of the center arm
mechanism of the i axle of the vehicle
VI. THE MODEL OF CENTER-ARM SIX BAR Li—Distance from longitudinal center of vehicle i axle
MECHANISM STEERING SYSTEM center-arm mechanism
It is very important to reasonably match the bar system of i, j are natural number.
Multi-wheel steering vehicles, not only the rotation angles of
two wheels on the same axle should match each other, but also The steering device composed of five Watt-II center-arm
different steering axle wheels should match well with each six-bar mechanism was introduced into ADAMS for
other. In this section, the angle error of different axle wheels kinematics simulation. To deflect the steering device to the
that constitute steering system has been analyzed. right, import simulation angle relation data from ADAMS into
MATLAB, compared the results with computing result of the
Multi-wheel heavy vehicles steering, suppose the vehicle angle theoretical formula (8), (9) and (10), rotation Angle
turns to the right, the wheel rotation angle not on the same error Analysis of toggle arm in other position based on the
axle should satisfy the following relationships[3,4]: angle of toggle arm at L/H=1.9. Due to the limitations of the
The rotation angle relationship of the same side toggle length of the paper, only analyze error about the rotation angle
arm(wheel) satisfy the following formula: of the left toggle arm of each axle.
Angle error analysis of the left toggle arm (outer wheel) of
Li  co t( i )  L j  cot( j ) each axle at L/K=0.5, L/K=0.9, L/K=1.4, L/K=1.9 relative to
the left toggle arm (outer wheel) at L/K=1.9, in Figure VII,
Figure VIII, Figure IX and Figure X, the left picture (a) is the
L i  c o t ( i )  L j  c o t ( j )
angle curve of the left toggle arm (outer wheel) of each axle at
L/K=0.5, L/K=0.9, L/K=1.4, L/K=1.9 relative to the left toggle
then: arm (outer wheel) at L/K=1.9, the right picture (b) is the
corresponding angle error curve. Abscissa in groups of (a)
 i  arccot [ L j  cot (  j ) / Li ] (8) diagrams is the left toggle arm rotation angle at L/K=0.9,
ordinate is the left toggle arm rotation angle at other position.
Dotted line is the left toggle arm rotation angle by ADAMS,
 i  arccot [ L j  cot ( j ) / Li ] (9)
full line is the left toggle arm rotation angle by the angle
theoretical formula.
The rotation angle relationship of the different side toggle
arm(wheel) satisfy the following formula:

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(a) correlation curve (b) error curve

FIGURE VII. THE STEERING GEOMETRY OF LEFT TOGGLE ARM(L/K=0.5)

(a) correlation curve (b) error curve

FIGURE VIII. THE STEERING GEOMETRY OF LEFT TOGGLE ARM(L/K=0.9)

(a) correlation curve (b) error curve

FIGURE IX. THE STEERING GEOMETRY OF LEFT TOGGLE ARM(L/K=1.4)

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(a) correlation curve (b) error curve

FIGURE X. THE STEERING GEOMETRY OF LEFT TOGGLE ARM(L/K=1.9)

It can be seen from the curves in (a) in Figure VII ~ X, in REFERENCES

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