Hopf Bifurcation Characteristics of the Vehicle with Rear Axle Compliance Steering.

To overcome the shortage of traditional rear axle compliance steering (RACS) technology, a kind of viscoelastic smart material is introduced into the rear suspension of a vehicle to construct rear wheel semiactive steering system. This article focuses on the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the vehicle with RACS incorporating viscoelastic smart material. First of all, considering the tire nonlinearity and the fractional derivative constitutive relation of the viscoelastic material, the nonlinear dynamic model of the vehicle with RACS is formulated. Then, the lateral dynamic behavior of the vehicle with RACS is demonstrated through numerical experiments. Finally, some factors that influence shimmy of the compliance steering wheel are investigated. Numerical results demonstrate the Hopf bifurcation characteristics of the vehicle with RACS and disclose the influence factors of Hopf bifurcation characteristics for the vehicle with RACS, which lay the theoretical foundation for the development of the rear wheel semiactive steering technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]