Modeling and Simulation of Automotive Four-

channel Hydraulic ABS Based on AMESim and

Simulink/Stateflow

Ji Wang, Chuanxue Song, Liqiang Jin

State Key Laboratory of Automobile Dynamic Simulation
Jilin University
Changchun, China
E-mail: jlu07@mails.jlu.edu.cn

Abstract—Four-wheel automobile co-simulation model with model, vehicle subsystem model, and ABS controller model.
AMESim and Simulink/Stateflow was established. Vehicle model Considering that different softwares have different modeling
was established with AMESim. Also, using AMESim we characteristics for different parts of the brake system, we use
established a four-channel hydraulic system including ABS AMESim to establish the driver model, the hydraulic brake
hydraulic modulator. The ABS controller model was established model and the vehicle subsystem model, which constitute the
with Simulink/Stateflow. Co-simulation model simulates the vehicle model together. ABS controller's function is to
vehicle braking performance on low adhesion road. Simulation determine and calculate vehicle speed signals and wheel speed
result shows that ABS controller can effectively improve the signals of continuous change, and execute increase pressure,
vehicle's braking stability and performance. Therefore, the
reduce pressure, keep pressure and other discrete commands.
simulation method can be used in developing ABS system in the
Therefore, according to Simulink and Stateflow modeling
future.
advantages, we established models for continuous process and
Keywords- ABS; AMESim; Simulink; Stateflow; co-simulation; discrete process of the controller respectively. AMESim
slip-rate software is embedded in the Simulink model in the form of S
function to co-simulation. ABS controller receives the vehicle
speed signals and wheel speed signals from AMESim,
I. INTRODUCTION calculates and outputs ABS hydraulic modulator solenoid
The level of vehicle active safety has been concerned in signals and ABS motor signals to the AMESim vehicle model.
the field of automotive research, and the performance of The co-simulation process is shown in Fig. 1.
vehicle ABS directly affects vehicle safety. Today, the
development of automotive ABS is more dependent on
simulation study[1-3]. As the automotive system is a very
complex dynamic system, the establishment of accurate
mathematical model is very difficult, so a lot of modeling
methods simplify the ABS model as low degrees of freedom
model or single-wheel braking model. But the conditions of
these modeling methods take into consideration are limited, so
it’s difficult to simulate actual automobile running situation.
Therefore, we combined the professional ability of AMESim
software to establish a precise electromechanical model and a
hydraulic model, with the professional ability of
Simulink/Stateflow to establish a control algorithms model,
established a high-precision multi degrees of freedom vehicle
model with four-channel hydraulic ABS. The model simulates
in different braking conditions, adding more parameters which
have influence on the braking effect, so the simulation is much
more closer to actual braking process.

II. VEHICLE ABS CO-SIMULATION MODEL DESIGN

A co-simulation model for four-wheel vehicle was
established based on AMESim and Simulink/Stateflow. Co-
simulation model includes driver model, hydraulic brake Figure 1. Co-simulation process

978-1-4244-5874-5/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE

 Where F_pd represents the brake pedal force. Add, Red,
Mot represent solenoid valve signals and ABS motor signals.
Fb represents braking force imposed on the vehicle system.
III. AMESIM VEHICLE MODEL
A. AMESim vehicle submodel and driver model
AMESim vehicle model is established refer to 15 degrees
of freedom vehicle dynamics model from AMESim application
model libraries[4-5]. 15 DOF include 4 DOF of four wheels
translation along vertical direction, 4 DOF of four wheels
rotating around wheels’ centers, 3 DOF of the vehicle as a
whole translation along the direction of longitudinal, lateral and
vertical, 3 DOF of the vehicle rotating around the center of
vehicle mass, and 1 DOF of the steering system along lateral
direction. According to the parameters configuration of the
vehicle, chassis platform model, suspension model, engine
model, steering model, wheels model, dynamics model of road,
air dynamics model etc. were built in the vehicle subsystem
model. In which, dynamics model of road and wheels model
have great impact on braking performance. Dynamics model of
road consists of roadgrip model and road model. Wheels model
consists of tire kinematics model, tire belt model, tire model
and so on. Driver model is based on the wishes of the driver's
driving and reaction time, outputs braking signals and steering
signals.
Figure 2. AMESim hydraulic model
IV. SIMULINK/STATEFLOW ABS CONTROLLER MODEL
A. ABS controller model
As the logic threshold control method is the most widely
used control method among today's ABS products, the control
performance is good, and the braking effert is very stable[7-8].
B. Model of AMESim hydraulic system
Since the establishment of the hydraulic system model with
the software of AMESim has obvious advantages, the model of
hydraulic module from AMESim software tools library is
accurate and powerful, and AMESim has a good dynamics
simulation features at the same time, so it is easy to use this
software for hydraulic ABS system modeling.
In this paper, the research object is hydraulic brake system
of four independent channels, so the model includes brake
master cylinder, ABS hydraulic modulator, 4 brake wheel
cylinders and so on[6]. The ABS hydraulic modulator consists
of pressure increasing valves, reducing valves, return pumps,
ABS motors, low-pressure accumulators and so on. AMESim
hydraulic model is shown in Fig. 2. Pressure increasing valves
and reducing valves use 2-position 2-way proportional solenoid
valves. Pressure increasing valves, reducing valves and ABS
motors receive discrete output signals from the
Simulink/Stateflow. Pressure increasing valves and reducing
valves control the brake pipe fluid according to switch action,
and pressure increasing, pressure decreasing, pressure keeping
and so on come into action. Regulating access to the
parameters of solenoid valve can achieve the ideal solenoid
valve dynamic response.
Therefore, we select two logic threshold values control method
in this article. Where slip-rate is the main control object, and
wheel angle deceleration is the second control object. The
hybrid model analyzed the input signals by calculating,
independent control the brake pressure of a single wheel,
thereby enhancing the lateral stability of the vehicle[9]. ABS
model of front left wheel is shown in Fig. 3[10].
 Where v_veh, a_wfl, avr_wfl and s represent the vehicle
speed, the wheel angular acceleration, wheel angular
acceleration variation rate and slip-rate respectively. And add,
red, mot represent the solenoid valve power on signals, power
off signals and ABS motor signals respectively.
Figure 3. ABS model of the front left wheel
B. Stateflow control logic
The core of the control logic is established with Stateflow.
Stateflow through the function call trigger the actions of
Simulink blocks. The Controller receives slip-rate, vehicle
speed, wheel angle acceleration, wheel angular acceleration
variation rate signals, and through two logic threshold values
control logic outputs solenoid valve signals and ABS motors
signals to execute pressure increasing, pressure decreasing,
pressure keeping, or slightly pressure increasing actions. And
then the signals are passed to the ABS hydraulic regulator of
the hydraulic model through the S function. The control logic
diagram of ABS is shown in Fig. 4[11]. Where P_increase,
P_decrease, P_keep represent pressure increasing, pressure
decreasing, pressure keeping actions respectively. S1 and S2
represent the lower threshold value of slip-rate and the higher
threshold value of slip-rate. A_ng, A_psmin, A_psmax
represent three acceleration control threshold values.

Figure 4. The control logic of ABS

V. SIMULATION RESULTS
ABS control effect in the condition of the low adhesion
snow and ice road can better show the ABS functions ，
therefore we choose low adhesion road as simulation condition.
Some parameters of simulation model are as follows, vehicle
mass is 1300 kg, wheel rolling radius of the tire is 0.29 m.
Next, the model simulates braking on low adhesion ice road,
the friction coefficient of which is about 0.2, and the braking
initial velocity is 72 km/h. Simulation results are shown in Fig.
5, Fig. 6, Fig. 7, and Fig. 8.

Figure 6. Map of wheel speed and vehicle speed

Figure 5. Map of braking touque


Figure 7. Map of slip-rate
Figure 8. Map of braking distance
From Fig. 5, it can be found that braking torque of the
wheel with ABS has been effectively controlled. From Fig. 6, it
can be found that the slip-rate of the wheel without hydraulic
ABS rapidly reached to 1, that means the wheel was locked,
but the slip-rate with hydraulic ABS wheel can be stabilized
fluctuating in the vicinity of 0.1 to 0.3 in most of the time.
From Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, it can be found that the wheel speed is
slightly lower than the vehicle speed when simulating with
ABS, which shows the trends of undulatory reduce. When the
vehicle speed is less than the min. value, the brake system
gradually stops working. The braking distance of the vehicle
with ABS is significantly lower than that of the vehicle without
ABS. The simulation results of high-adhesion road also explain
a similar situation, but the fluctuation range of wheel speed is
not large, and the change range of the slip-rate is very small.
By comparison with the actual vehicle braking data, it proves
that the co-simulation model is reasonable.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper we take use of different function of AMESim
and Simulink/Stateflow, established four-wheel vehicle co-
simulation model with four-channel hydraulic ABS. By using
two logic threshold values control logic, we analyzed
automobile braking performance on low-adhesion coefficient
road. Simulation results show that this co-simulation model can
simulate the actual braking conditions. Simulation results also
show that the ABS system can prevent wheels locking，limit
the range of the slip-rate, save braking time and braking
distance, and can improve wheel lateral stability and braking
efficiency. Therefore, the co-simulation method using
AMESim and Simulink/Stateflow is an effective way to
develop automobile ABS.
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