Abstract
Optimizations of the lateral and longitudinal tire force distribution based on tire workload are investigated. In previous studies, we studied minimax optimizations of tire force distribution for several configurations of independent steering vehicles; some of them were realized by employing numerically robust combinations of an algebraic approach, the bisection method, and the golden section method. In this report, an optimality criterion approach to the minimax optimization of independent four-wheel steering is developed to improve computational efficiencies, which starts with the assumption of equivalent tire workload. An equality constraint is derived for a typical problem and then the possible tire force distribution patterns are enumerated and algebraic equations for these patters are introduced. It has been shown that a set of nine possible distribution patterns is enough for the exact minimax optimization.
