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SAE TECHNICAL
PAPER SERIES 2000-01-3414

Pneumatic Brake System Modeling

for Systems Analysis
Tankut Acarman and Umit Ozguner
Department of Electrical Engineering, The Ohio State University

Cem Hatipoglu and Anne-Marie Igusky

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Honeywell International

Truck and Bus Meeting and Exposition

Portland, Oregon
December 4-6, 2000

400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 U.S.A. Tel: (724) 776-4841 Fax: (724) 776-5760
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2000-01-3414

Pneumatic Brake System Modeling for Systems Analysis

Tankut Acarman and Umit Ozguner
Department of Electrical Engineering, The Ohio State University

Cem Hatipoglu and Anne-Marie Igusky

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Honeywell International

Copyright © 2000 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

ABSTRACT

The primary objective of this paper is to develop a model

that accurately represents the dynamics of air flowing
through the components of a pneumatic system
configuration, which is common in many heavy duty
vehicle applications, that eventually translates into
braking force. This objective is met using the dynamic
compressible airflow equations, which describe flow
through an orifice. These equations are coordinated to
describe the directional motion of dynamic airflow as
commanded by the driver at the foot-pedal and as
modified downstream by a modulator to facilitate ABS
activity. The solenoid actuated relay valve also includes
the motion dynamics of a piston in the existence of
hysteresis and coulomb friction type built-in non-smooth
nonlinearities. The adoption of an isentropic process, as
opposed to the more general case of polytropic behavior,
is experimentally determined to suffice for accuracy while
yielding significant mathematical convenience. Various Figure 1: Typical components of a pneumatic brake system.
validation studies are conducted to match the simulation
data to those gathered from experiments.

INTRODUCTION
One of the primary challenges in modeling heavy-duty
vehicle brake systems is the existence of pneumatics in
the loop. Although there are undeniable maintenance,
handling, compatibility and robustness (against
reasonable leaks) advantages over the hydraulic
systems from an applications viewpoint, the
compressibility of air introduces significant nonlinearities
into a pneumatically actuated brake system from an
analysis /design standpoint.
A typical pneumatic brake system involves a compressor,
primary and secondary tanks, a foot brake pedal, brake
chambers, ABS modulators and the plumbing lines in-
between. The dynamics of air flowing through this system
determines how the brake force is attained at the wheel-
ends as referenced by the demand of the driver at the
foot brake pedal. See Figure 1.
It is very common for most of the components in the
brake system to be modified or replaced in time for
various reasons such as upgrading, modularization,
standardization or simply cost reduction. Therefore, it is
essential to be able to accurately predict the effects of
changes in the components to the overall brake system
performance. An analytical pneumatic model for
individual components -combined at the systems level-,
which is based on laws of physics rather than numerical
data collected through experimentation, can serve as a
substitute (or even a replacement when enough
confidence is built) for most of the development,
improvement and testing phases of components &
system design. For instance, an accurate model of a
pneumatic braking system is highly advantageous during
the preliminary design stages of a new modulator. Due
to the fact that system parameters can be modified in the
model, verification of their effects on the overall ABS
system performance, or timing compliance laws can be
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readily determined. The overall brake system service both the right and left side of the vehicle, versus
performance can be monitored as suggestions for the typical need for a separate valve on each side in the
component improvements are discussed. tractor system, by filling or emptying the volume. The top
side of the piston (dome) contains both a supply and
The following gives a detailed explanation of the exhaust port to control the piston movement. As the
pneumatic theory that controls the system operation. piston location varies in time, the underbelly of the piston
(which controls airflow to the chambers) is effected.
Downward motion of the piston allows for air to move
through the valve as in service braking; whereas upward
MODELING THE PNEUMATIC COMPONENTS IN motion will force air to exhaust to atmosphere. Pressure
A HEAVY DUTY BRAKE SYSTEM differences between the dome and the chambers
regulate piston motion. Consequently, the braking force
can be regulated by piston movement.
Overview of Brake System Operation:
The system presented here shows the configuration of a
bobtail tractor (See Figure 1). Typical system behavior
Overview of Compressible Fluid Dynamics:
is activated with driver’s demand for vehicle braking. At For compressible fluids, the instantaneous mass flow
the foot valve located in the cab of the truck, the driver rate through an orifice is expressed by quasi-steady-state
requests some braking. If certain conditions are met isentropic orifice flow process [1,2]:
where the vehicle enters a wheel lockup state, ABS
modulation begins. At the modulator valve, the driver 2 æP ö
demand is filtered through logical statements based on m
= C d aPR f çç M ÷÷ (1)
the corresponding wheel behavior and used in regulation RTR è PR ø
with the ABS commands sent from the valve controller. A
series of build, hold, and exhaust commands prevent the where m
is the mass flow rate liberated through an
wheels from locking up and bring the vehicle to a stop orifice of aperture a in the reservoir (subscript R) toward
while maintaining steering, yaw and lateral stability. a medium lower pressure PM and TR is the reservoir
There are two tanks involved in supplying air to the brake
chambers in a bobtail tractor. The primary tank feeds the temperature. The discharge coefficient Cd is included in
rear wheels and similarly the secondary tank supplies the equation (1) to account for friction and fluid contractions
fronts. Two separate tanks act as a hardware safety exhibited by real orifices. For compressible fluids, a
measure in case a single fault eliminates either the front general orifice flow expression that handles both the
or the rear brakes, but never both at the same time. The subsonic and the supersonic regimes is accomplished by
air that is supplied to the brake chambers fills to its defining a piecewise flow function f(.), as,
maximum volume and then as pressure increases, a
piston is driven out that activates the drum brake used to ì æ 2 γ +1
ö
stop the truck. The valve is located at a point between ï γ ç r γ − r γ ÷ , rC ≤ r ≤ 1
the storage tanks and the brake chambers. Although ïï γ − 1 ç ÷
è ø
brief, this explains the basic concept behind the system f (r ) = í 2
(2)
component orientation and function.
ï γ æ 2 ö γ −1
ï çç ÷÷ , 0 ≤ r ≤ rC
The current model approximates the ABS activity of a ïî γ + 1 è γ + 1 ø
tractor braking system, which is a straightforward system
in comparison to the trailer. The major modification
involved in creating a trailer model includes a relay with the condition that f
(rC ) = 0 , where γ is ratio of
modulator and also some minor changes pneumatic line specific heats, r is the ratio of the pressures on on either
lengths. side of the orifice and rc is the critical ratio where
subsonic and supersonic regions separate and defined
The tractor modulator has three I/O ports: supply, γ −1
delivery, and exhaust. During service braking, air flows æ 2 ö γ
through the valve with no regulation. When ABS as rC = çç ÷÷ .
functions are called, the controller outputs commands è1+ γ ø
that direct the solenoid operation of the modulator. The
solenoids directly control the movement of two The nonlinear state-space model of the presented
diaphragms within the hold and exhaust sides of the pneumatic brake system is based on the following
valve. The changing positions of the two diaphragms assumptions:
result in the build, hold, or exhaust functions.
• an ideal equation of state
The trailer modulator, however, operates by an • isentropic valve orifice flow
intermediate piston within the valve. This modulator can • isentropic control volume behavior
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The brake actuation system is push-pull type, and A schematic model of pneumatic actuator system is
involves translational motion inside of a pressure given in Figure 3. The mass flow rate from reservoir into
chamber, where the piston position x varies between pressure chamber and from pressure chamber to the
0 ≤ x ≤ L and L is the maximum available stroke. exterior is given by
Variables used in describing the pressure chamber gas
dynamics are the chamber pressure PC , its temperature 2 æP ö
m
RC = C d a R PR f çç C ÷÷ (4)
TC , specific density ρ C , the reservoir pressure PR , its RTR è PR ø
temperature TR , specific density ρ R and the expansion
chamber, (here simply, exterior atmosphere) pressure 2 æP ö
m
CE = C d a E PC f çç E ÷÷ (5)
Patm , its temperature Tatm and specific density ρ atm . RTC è PC ø
The pressure chamber can be connected by two ports
respectively toward reservoir with orifice a R and toward
exterior a atm for raising or lowering pressure level in the Inside the pressure chamber, the local mass flow rate
may be derived from the usual work and energy
pressure chamber. The position of a piston of cross conservation concepts given by
section AP is regulated by a spring-damper of stiffness
Ks. The damping effects stem from general AP x dPC AP PC dx
characteristics which include both linear (e.g. viscous) m
C = + Cd . (6)
and nonlinear terms (dry friction, stiction or quadratic
γRTC dt RTC dt
type effects). Figure 2 shows the experimental system
at the brake chamber level: The modulator is driven by The load motion is characterized by a viscous coefficient
on-off solenoids which can be described as a single µ u , Coulomb term µ c and a linear spring constant K s ,
parameter u, such that air flows in or out of the pressure
chamber. Then, due to mass rate m
, the inside pressure
dx
dt
= x
=
1
M
[
Ap P − µ u x
− µ c sign( x
) − K s x ] (7)
denoted by PC is changed and the actuator system
generates the force FA .
where sign (⋅) denotes the discontinuous signum function
operating on its argument.

To model the non-ideal behavior of the real orifices, a

discharge coefficient Cd is used. The discharge
coefficient Cd is typically defined in terms of the velocity
coefficient C v and the contraction coefficient C c .
C d ≈ C v Cc

In most cases, Cv = 1.0 and C v = 0.982 may be used.

[1], [2]
Figure 2: A typical brake chamber.
A basic premise of the model is that the contraction
coefficient, denoted here with Ci , for the orifice
whentransmitting an incompressible fluid be known a
priori. The results appear in the form of two equations,
one for each flow regime. These equations provide C c
Pdownstream
as a function of the pressure ratio r= and a
Pupperstream
force defect coefficient fd given by the following explicit
function of Ci ,

Figure 3: Schematics of a typical pneumatic actuation system. 1 1

fd = −
C i 2C i 2

Cc, then, can be represented by,

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γ
ì 1
ï 1
[1 − a ], r > rC æ PC
For u = 1 , If çç
ö æ 2 ö γ −1
÷÷ > çç ÷÷
ïï 2 f r
Cc = í d
γ
(8)
è PR ø è γ +1ø
ï 1 [1 + b − c ], r ≤ rC
ï 1

















îï 2 f d rC
r
2 γ +1
λ æ PC ö γ æ PC ö γ
F= 1 çç ÷÷ − çç ÷÷
æ γ1 ö
2 λ2 è PR ø è PR ø
ç 2r ÷ (1 − r ) f 1
(10)

where a = 1 −
ç
è
÷
ø , b=
(rC − r )rC
γ

PC =
γ æç R A ö
TC C d l λ 2 PR F − PC A p x ÷ 
V ( x) çè TR ÷
,
(λ2 f1 (r ))2
(λ 2 f1 (r ))2 Rc ø
γ
2
æ γ1 ö æ PC ö æ 2 ö γ −1
æ 1
ö
2 ç 2rC ÷ (1 − r ) f If çç ÷÷ ≤ çç ÷÷
ç (rC − r )rCγ ÷ ç ÷ è PR ø è γ + 1ø
and c = ç1 + ÷ −è ø
ç (λ 2 f 1 (r )) (λ 2 f1 (r ))2 














2
÷
è ø 2
γ æ 2 ö γ −1
F= ç ÷
and where f 1 (r ) , λ2 and rC are predetermined. γ + 1 çè γ + 1 ÷ø
(11)
Selecting

P=
γ æç R A ö
TC C d l λ 2 PR F − PAp x ÷ 
V ( x ) = VD + A p x (9)
V ( x) çè TR Rc ÷
ø

as the volume, where VD is the dead volume that exists

For u = 0,
at the end of the piston, accounting for plumbing, the
γ
valve manifold, etc. and Ap as the piston area, and λ1 P
C = (− PC Ap x
) (12)
V ( x)
and λ2 are dimensionless constants
γ
γ æ Patm ö æ 2 ö γ −1
For u = −1 , If çç ÷÷ > çç ÷÷
2γ æ 2 ö γ −1
λ1 = , λ2 = γ çç ÷÷ è PC ø è γ + 1ø
γ −1 è γ + 1ø



















which are used in the following equations.
2 γ +1
λ æ P öγ æP ö γ
F = 1 ç atm ÷ − ç atm ÷
Modeling a three-state modulator: λ2 ç P ÷ çP ÷
The pneumatic actuation system, which is comprised of a
è Cø è Cø
solenoid actuated 3-state modulator, has the capability of
building (u = 1), holding (u = 0) or exhausting (u=-1) the 
PC =
γ æç R
−
A ö
TatmCd l λ2 PC F + Patm Ap x÷ 
pressure in the brake chambers via controlling the air V (x) çè TC Rc ÷
ø
flow between the reservoir and the chambers or the
brake chambers and the atmosphere by modulating the γ
associated solenoids. This generic behavior still yields æ P ö æ 2 ö γ −1
different responses for different generation modulators If ç atm ÷ ≤ çç ÷÷
since there are internal design variations. The behavior è P ø è γ +1ø
of air flowing through pneumatic transmission lines is
also an integral part of the investigation. Given this
introduction, the modulator dynamics operates as follows
(where u is the control state):
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 2
γ æ 2 ö γ −1
F= ç ÷
γ + 1 çè γ + 1÷ø


P=
γ æç
−
R A ö
TatmCd l λ2 PC F + Patm Ap x ÷ 
V ( x) çè TC Rc ÷
ø

where P is the chamber pressure, R is the ideal gas

constant, and the temperature of the air inside the
chamber is given in terms of initial conditions P by

γ −1
éPù γ
TC = To ê ú (13)
ë P0 û

The equation governing the motion of the rod is as given Figure 4: Full Apply response performance.
in eqn (7). The simplified block diagram of the pneumatic
brake actuator is given on Figure 8.

Simulation and Experimental Results

Simulation results for the pneumatically actuated system
have been performed and compared against
experimental data. The open-loop responses have been
generated for build, build/hold and exhaust commands.
These tests were specifically designed to capture the
typical modes of operation of the modulators. The data
was collected using a dSpace DSP board at 1ms
intervals. Typical modes during and out of ABS are full
build, full exhaust, pulsed build/holds and combinations
of these modes. The following figures display the
closeness of the model’s output to the actual
experimental results under some of the mentioned
conditions. It is observed that Figures 4 thru 7 generate
close responses. The modeling of the modulator
response has been the prime interest in this paper,
however, it is necessary to place more emphasis on
pressure responses over pneumatic transmission lines.
Figure 5: Pulsed build response performance.

A significant factor that contributes to accurate replication

of the braking system is the use of long line
approximations. Currently the delay caused by this
phenomenon is represented by a tuned low pass filter
mechanism. The replacement for the filter is currently in
progress, using pneumatic theory for transmission lines.
Further validation through experimentation is necessary
before implementing this method. A few good sources on
the subject, however, are [5,6] and the references cited
therein.
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Figure 6: Full Exhaust response performance.
Figure 7: Full exhaust - full build patterns.
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a theoretical model is discussed, which
characterizes the airflow dynamics within a pneumatic
brake system. Among the components modeled in this
scheme are the reservoir dynamics, relay & solenoid
dynamics modulating the flow air to the brake chambers,
and the pressure dynamics within the brake chamber.
The overall model is developed through a systems level
approach and verification studies are performed in
attempts to correlate the simulated values to the
experimental results. This model is based on mass flow
equations of compressible fluids through an orifice
assuming quasi-steady-state isentropic orifice flow
process and handles both the subsonic and the
supersonic regimes through a piecewise differentiable
flow function.
Having models of both the tractor and trailer brake
systems will significantly improve the design cycle and
produce immediate, quantifiable results. Experimental
testing is still necessary, however, dramatic changes in
system performance will be predicted ahead of time. It is
essential that the effects on the overall system are kept
in mind when implementing design changes on system
components. It is also important to recognize that the
weakest current link in pure simulation studies within
heavy duty vehicle brake systems is the pneumatic
system dynamics itself. Going forward, we would like to
use similar models and ideas as part of a simulation tool
that can predict how certain modifications in the system
can effect the overall braking performance whether in
the ABS mode or medium to low pressure application
range. For example, the effects of replacing pneumatic
control lines with electrical control signals (i.e. EBS) on
the stability and ABS performance should be trivial to
simulate with such a model. An additional objective is to
utilize this tool in making modifications to hardware to
meet the specifications set by the customer, company
standards or the government. Since the developed
model is based on laws of physics, estimation of the
system level effects stemming from the component
design changes will be visible even at conceptual design
phases. The ultimate goal is to use this model to identify
a simpler (possibly a variable structure) model that
captures only the dominant modes of the response
without the structural complexity, which can, then, be
used as the backbone for a model based robust
controller design.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project is supported by a grant from Honeywell
International.
REFERENCES
1. Anderson,B.W. “The analysis and design of
pneumatic systems”, Wiley, New York., 1967.
2. Jobson,D.A. “On the flow of a compressible fluid
through orifices”, Proceedings of the IME,
vol.169,pp.767-772, 1995.
3. Hanchin,G.D. “ Modeling of a rodless pneumatic
servoactuator for control applications”, Master’s
Thesis, The Ohio State University, 1991.
4. Drakunov,S., Hanchin,G.D., Su,W.C., and
Ozguner,U. “Nonlinear control of a rodless
pneumatic servo-actuator, or sliding modes versus
Coulomb friction”, Automatica, vol.33, n.7, pp.1401-
1408, 1997.
5. John, James E.A. and Haberman, William L.
Introduction to Fluid Mechanics. Prentice Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1988.
6. Binder, R.C. and Schuder, C.B. “The Response of
Pneumatic Transmission Lines to Step Inputs”.
Transactions of the ASME, December 1959. P. 578-
584
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µc piston Coulomb friction coefficient

NOMENCLATURE µu piston viscous-drag coefficient
Ks spring-damper stiffness
A
effective valve spool clearance area
FA actuating force
Ap area of piston face
R pressure ratio of either side of an orifice
M piston mass
rc critical pressure ratio, (sub/super)sonic
Cd valve orifice discharge coefficient
x piston displacement
Cc orifice contraction coefficient
t time
Ci orifice contraction coefficient for incompressible Cv velocity coefficient
flow fd force defect coefficient
f compressible flow function
To initial temperature of chamber
λ 1, λ 2 compressible orifice flow constants
a orifice aperture: aR, aE reservoir, exhaust
Po absolute initial pressure of the pressure chamber
TR reservoir temperature, TR =298 K
Po =517 kPa
L maximum stroke length
m
mass flow rate P pressure
P absolute pressure: Ps=951 & PE=101 kPa T temperature
R ideal gas constant ρ specific density
U valve command
V volume
Vd dead volume
γ ratio of gaseous medium specific heats: γ =1.4

Figure 8: Simplified block diagram of the pneumatic simulation model.