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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 58, NO. 8, OCTOBER 2009

A Vehicle Roll-Stability Indicator Incorporating

Roll-Center Movements
Jongchul Jung, Taehyun Shim, and Jamie Gertsch

AbstractIn the development of active/passive roll control systems, a vehicle model that can represent realistic roll behavior is
essential for predicting the impending rollover and for accurately
applying the control force to avoid vehicle rollover. The vehicle
roll center is a key parameter that influences the vehicle roll
dynamics. Since the roll center movement becomes important
as the vehicle roll angle increases, it is desirable to include this
effect in the roll-control system. This paper proposes a dynamic
roll stability indicator (RSI) incorporating roll-center movement
that generates rollover threshold in terms of lateral acceleration.
A robust parameter identification algorithm using a disturbance
observer is designed to estimate the lateral and vertical roll-center
movements. These estimates are later used in the RSI to update
the rollover threshold. The effectiveness of the proposed method
is demonstrated through simulations, and its performance is compared with other rollover warning algorithms.
Index TermsRoll-center movements, roll-stability indicator
(RSI), rollover.

I. I NTRODUCTION

EHICLE rollover crashes are the leading cause of fatalities on U.S. highways. According to statistics [1], nearly
33% of all deaths from passenger vehicle crashes result from
rollovers. Due to the high fatality rate of rollover crashes, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has
established a rollover resistance rating test as part of its New
Car Assessment Program for passenger vehicles, including
sport utility vehicles (SUVs) [2], [3].
In recent years, reducing the vehicle rollover propensity to
improve occupant safety has become an active research area.
These efforts have produced two basic types of safety systems:
passive (e.g., curve speed warning systems) and active (e.g.,
electronic stability control). Many passive warning systems
use a prediction algorithm to determine the risk of impending rollover using vehicle or axle roll angles and/or lateral
acceleration as inputs. They provide some type of warning
so that the driver can take corrective action. For instance, the
static stability factor (SSF) is the simplest steady-state stability
indicator used for the prediction of vehicle rollover [2]. This

Manuscript received March 4, 2008; revised August 5, 2008, December 16,

2008, and February 16, 2009. First published April 21, 2009; current version published October 2, 2009. This work was supported by the Henry W.
Patton Center for Engineering Education and Practice, University of Michigan
Dearborn. The review of this paper was coordinated by Dr. M. S. Ahmed.
J. Jung is with the University of MichiganDearborn, Dearborn, MI 48128
USA (e-mail: jongchul@umd.umich.edu).
T. Shim is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of
MichiganDearborn, Dearborn, MI 48128 USA (e-mail: tshim@umich.edu).
J. Gertsch can be contacted at jamiegertsch@att.com.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TVT.2009.2021420

factor is defined as the ratio of the half track width to the

height of the vehicle center of gravity. If the lateral acceleration
exceeds this value, then the system warns that vehicle rollover
is imminent. However, since it is obtained under the assumption
of a rigid vehicle with no compliance (in the frame, suspension,
or tire) and no degrees of freedom (prior to liftoff), this value is
an upper bound on vehicle roll stability. Vehicle rollover may
occur at a lower acceleration than the SSF threshold. Thus,
it may not provide warning to drivers even when a vehicle
rolls over.
Some modifications to the SSF approach have been introduced by using more complex vehicle roll models that include
the effects of suspension compliance and/or tire compliance
[4][6]. Although these modifications reduce the threshold
value (in terms of lateral acceleration) that predicts the vehicle
rollover, there still exists some discrepancy with the threshold
value compared with a real vehicle, since it is calculated as a
steady-state value.
To provide more realistic rollover-warning systems, dynamic
approaches have been suggested, such as the time-to-rollover
(TTR) metric [7], the lateral load transfer ratio (LTR) [8]
[10], the dynamic stability index (DSI) [11], and the critical
energy-based measure [12], [13]. The TTR metric measures
the time to reach its critical roll angle. The DSI, which is a
function of the lateral acceleration and the roll acceleration
of the sprung mass, determines the vehicle rollover warning
whenever the level of the DSI exceeds that of the SSF. The
critical energy-based rollover threat indicator is calculated from
a point of the lowest potential energy that is defined as a point
of two-wheel liftoff. According to the energy-based measure, a
vehicle lies in a critical condition when the measure is less than
zero. To be more realistic, a rollover index based on the timeto-wheel liftoff [14] was suggested to detect the impending
vehicle rollover, because it is difficult to reduce the vehicle roll
motion once two wheels lift off. This threshold is calculated
as a function of the roll angle, the roll rate, and the lateral
acceleration.
The suspension roll center is an important parameter in
vehicle roll dynamics. However, the aforementioned algorithms
do not consider the effect of suspension roll-center movement
in predicting the vehicle rollover. During severe vehicle maneuvers, the roll center moves laterally and vertically due to the
asymmetric suspension geometry, and its role becomes more
important [15][20]. For instance, it has been reported that the
roll center height significantly affects the values of the vehicle
rollover threshold [6]. A high roll center tends to increase the
suspension jacking forces and reduce the body roll angle and
the lateral movement of the sprung mass center. In addition,

0018-9545/$26.00 2009 IEEE

JUNG et al.: VEHICLE ROLL-STABILITY INDICATOR INCORPORATING ROLL-CENTER MOVEMENTS

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Fig. 2. Roll response of the fixed and the moving roll center model.
Fig. 1.

Kinematic roll center migration during a J-turn maneuver [20].

by considering the effects of suspension and tire compliance, a

static rollover threshold with respect to the lateral acceleration
can be expressed as a quadratic function of the roll-center
height [6]. Thus, incorporating the roll-center information in
determining a rollover threshold would be more realistic.
This paper proposes a roll-stability indicator (RSI) that incorporates a suspension roll-center movement for determining the
rollover risk when a vehicle is turning. This rollover warning
indicator dynamically changes as a vehicle rolls. A robust
parameter estimation algorithm has been developed for rollcenter movement. In this algorithm, the lateral and vertical
movements of the roll center are estimated using a modified
recursive least-square method with a disturbance observer. The
estimates are then used to update the indicator. The effectiveness of the proposed RSI is demonstrated through simulations
and is compared with other RSIs. Although some existing RSIs
similarly perform, the proposed RSI could be useful because
each indicator works in a different environment.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section II
introduces the roll-center movement, and Section III proposes
a roll-center-estimation algorithm. An RSI that includes the
effect of roll center movement is presented in Section IV.
In Section V, the effectiveness of the proposed indicator is
demonstrated through simulations.
II. R OLL C ENTER M OVEMENT
The roll center is a fictitious parameter that can quantify
the effects of suspension geometry on the roll angle [15][21].
There are two different definitions for the roll center: 1) the
kinematic roll center and 2) the force-based roll center. Several
papers have introduced the concept and definition of the roll
center from these two points of view [15][21]. For many cases,
these two concepts produce the same result, but there exists a
difference for asymmetric suspensions.
The kinematic roll center is defined as a point of the
intersection of lines from the kinematic instant centers to the
tire contact points [21]. Fig. 1 shows the roll center movement
in the lateral and vertical directions during a J-turn maneuver
published in [20]. As indicated by the without control case in

this figure, the lateral and vertical movements of the kinematic

roll center are about 480 and 65 mm, respectively.
Alternatively, the force-based roll center is defined as a
point at which lateral forces are applied to the sprung mass
without producing suspension roll. In this concept, the height
of the roll center is defined as the lateral load transfer through
the links divided by the tire lateral force and multiplied by the
track [15].
The roll center also laterally moves. From Mitchell [16], If
the roll center does not move laterally in roll then the moment
arm remains constant. That is, if the vehicle moves down
one mm then the roll center height also moves down one mm
and preservers the length of the moment arm. This means the
vehicle remains at a constant roll angle rather than trying to
change roll angle. This statement implies that for realistic
rolling behavior, the lateral movement of the roll center should
be considered when analyzing the vehicle roll dynamics.
To show the effect of the roll-center movement during a
vehicle roll maneuver, we compare the roll responses of two different vehicle models using CarSim [22] in Fig. 2. One model is
a full vehicle model with asymmetric and nonlinear suspension
properties, which can result in roll center movement. The other
model is a full vehicle model that has symmetric and linear
suspension properties, assuming a fixed roll center. Each roll
angle and each roll rate are illustrated and compared in Fig. 2.
With the same driver inputs, the two vehicles are initially in
the same position. Then, the model with the fixed roll center
concept eventually rolls over, whereas the model with the
moving roll center concept remains stable in roll motion. Thus,
the concept of roll center movement is directly related to the
more-realistic suspension model and, hence, to more realistic
rolling behavior and reasonable rollover warning algorithms.
III. E STIMATION OF THE R OLL -C ENTER M OVEMENT
This section introduces an estimation method for roll-center
movement. The schematic of the roll-center estimation algorithm is shown in Fig. 3. Consider a lower order vehicle model
that has a fixed roll-center. This lower order model generates
roll motions without considering the effect of the roll-center

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 58, NO. 8, OCTOBER 2009

Fig. 3. Schematic of the RSI.

movement using the measured lateral acceleration obtained

from an actual vehicle that has roll-center movement. The
block Vehicle with roll center movement due to nonlinear
suspension in Fig. 3 represents an actual vehicle. In this paper,
a CarSim vehicle model with asymmetric suspension geometry is considered as the actual vehicle. This model has two
front independent suspensions and two rear solid axle suspensions. Both suspensions have nonlinear suspension stiffness and
damping. In this nonlinear suspension model, the suspension
stiffness rapidly increases as the suspension stroke crosses a
linear range. This nonlinear suspension results in suspension
jacking forces during severe roll motion, which causes the roll
center to laterally and vertically move and produces realistic
rolling behaviors and lateral motions.
The strategy for roll-center estimation is as follows: First,
actual roll motions, including the roll angle, the roll rate, and
the lateral acceleration, are obtained from experimental data
or a full vehicle model (which includes nonlinear suspension
models). Second, the obtained lateral acceleration drives a
simple lower order vehicle model that has a fixed roll center.
Through the lower order model, the roll angle and the roll rate
are obtained. Then, the errors of the roll angle and the roll rate
between the two models are input to the estimation block, where
the lateral and vertical roll-center movements are estimated
by utilizing a parameter identification algorithm. The RSI is
updated using the estimates.
A. Roll-Plane Vehicle Model
This section introduces a roll-plane vehicle model and a
strategy for identifying the roll-center movement. Fig. 4 shows
a roll plane model, including the concept of the roll center.
This model has a roll degree of freedom for the suspension
that connects the sprung mass and the unsprung masses. The
sprung mass is assumed to rotate at a roll center. The roll center
is usually modeled at the centerline of the track in a roll-plane
model. In this model, it is assumed that the roll center is not
fixed. Thus, the sprung mass rotates at a point denoted rc in
Fig. 4, which is defined as a moving roll center. The parameters
hrc and crc in Fig. 4 denote the height and the lateral movement
of the roll center, respectively. In the case of the fixed roll-center
model, the height of the roll center hrc is set to be fixed, and the
lateral movement crc is set to be zero.
Consider the roll dynamics in terms of the effective suspension roll stiffness K and the roll damping c for the lower

Fig. 4.

Suspended roll plane model including the roll center movement.

order vehicle model. It is derived from the moment balance at

the roll center in Fig. 4 when the roll center is fixed on the
centerline of the sprung mass. The roll dynamics of this model
with the fixed roll-center height can be expressed as
cf f + Kf f



= (ms ay cos ms g sin ) hcg,s hfrc


+ (ms ay sin + ms g cos ) hcg,s hfrc tan f (1)

where the suspension parameters cf and Kf are constant and

assumed to be known, and the fixed roll-center height and the
height of the sprung mass center are assumed to be known. The
roll dynamics are driven by the lateral acceleration measured
from a car or a full vehicle model. The roll dynamics in the full
vehicle model can be simplified as
m

cm
m + K m

= (ms ay cos ms g sin )(hcg,s hrc )

+ (ms ay sin + ms g cos )(hcg,s hrc ) tan m (2)
where hrc := hfrc + hrc , and hrc denotes the vertical movement of the roll center. The vertical movement hrc varies as a
vehicle rolls. Subtracting (2) from (1) yields
cf ( f m ) + Kf (f m )
= (ms ay cos ms g sin )hrc + K m + c m


+ (ms ay sin + ms g cos ) hcg,s hfrc tan f


(ms ay sin + ms g cos ) hcg,s hfrc hrc tan m
(3)
f
f
m
where c := cm
c and K := K K are defined
as deviations from the nominal values for the suspension parameters. By assuming (tan f tan m ) (f m ), the

JUNG et al.: VEHICLE ROLL-STABILITY INDICATOR INCORPORATING ROLL-CENTER MOVEMENTS

error dynamics between the two roll dynamics can be expressed as



cf ( f m )+ Kf (ms ay sin +ms g cos )(hcg,s hfrc )
(f m ) = (ms ay cos ms g sin )hrc
+((ms ay sin +ms g cos ) tan m ) hrc
+K m +c m

(4)

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B. Parameter-Estimation Algorithm
This section introduces a robust parameter-estimation algorithm to identify the unknown parameters shown in the
regression form of (5). Note that model uncertainties, such
as disturbances, unmodeled dynamics, and parameter perturbations, are not considered in the regression form. Estimation
performance and robustness may be improved by accounting
for such uncertainties in the model. This may be done by
modifying (5) to include a lumped disturbance term as follows:

where hrc , K, and c are unknown parameters.

The preceding equation is written as a regression model
Y = T

Y (t) = T (t)(t) + (t)

(5)

with Y , , and defined as shown at the bottom of the page,

where the parameter vector will be estimated. In addition, by
comparing the geometry between the fixed roll-center model
and the moving roll center model, as shown in Fig. 4, the lateral
movement of the roll center can be approximated as


crc hcg,s hfrc tan f (hcg,s hrc ) tan m


= hcg,s hfrc (tan f tan m ) + hrc tan m


hcg,s hfrc (f m ) + hrc tan m
(6)
where the vertical roll center deviation is used to obtain the
lateral roll-center movement. A parameter estimation algorithm
can be used to estimate these roll-center movements.
By comparing (1) and (3), the additional roll moment needed
to compensate for the discrepancy between the two roll motions
can be calculated as a function of the estimated roll stiffness,
the estimated roll damping, the estimated lateral roll-center
movement, and the estimated vertical roll-center movement as
follows:
rc ms g
m
crc K
c m
Mx,additional = ms ay h
(7)
rc , crc , K
, and
where h
c are the estimated parameters
using the parameter estimation algorithm described in the next
section. This additional moment can be added to a lower-order
vehicle model with a simple 1-D suspension to reduce the
roll-response discrepancy when compared with the full vehicle
model. With this additional roll moment, the roll behavior of
the simple vehicle model can become that of the full vehicle
model.

(8)

where (t) denotes a lumped disturbance that can degrade the

accuracy in estimating the unknown parameters.
To estimate the parameters (t) in (8), this paper employs
the recursive least squares (RLS) with disturbance observer
algorithm (RLSDA) [23]. The RLSDA, which modifies of
the conventional RLS algorithm by introducing a disturbance
observer in the structure, can estimate and compensate for
lumped disturbances. As a result, the algorithm has improved
robustness and estimation performance in the presence of
disturbances relative to the RLS. Note that in the presence
of unknown lumped disturbances, the Kalman filter and its
variants may experience ill-conditioning problems [24], which
degrade the estimation performance. Since the RLSDA avoids
this difficulty by design, it is a logical choice for estimating the
parameters of (8).
When the signals Y (t) and (t) are not guaranteed to be
bounded, the original RLSDA can be ill posed, which results
in large errors in estimating the parameter vector. To avoid this
drawback, the RLSDA may be modified using normalization
techniques [25]. The RLSDA with normalization is summarized as follows:


1) (t)
Y (t) T (t)(t

(t) = (t 1) + P (t)(t)
ns
(9)

1
1
P (t) =
P (t 1) P (t 1)(t)

ns

1 T

(t)P (t 1)
I + T (t)P (t 1)(t)

(t) = Q(z)

1)
Y (t) (t)(t
ns
T



Y = cf ( f m ) + Kf (ms ay sin + ms g cos )(hcg,s hfrc ) (f m )

ms ay cos ms g sin + (ms ay sin + ms g cos ) tan m

=
m
m

hrc
= K
c

(10)
(11)

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 58, NO. 8, OCTOBER 2009

where (t),
P (t), and (t) denote the estimated parameter
vector, the covariance matrix, and the estimated disturbance,
respectively. The parameter represents the forgetting factor
that is set between 0 and 1. The scalar ns for the normalization
is defined as ns = 1 + T P [25]. The filter Q(z) dominating the robust performance is designed as a first-order lowpass filter in this paper. The RLSDA with normalization can
increase the robustness and the estimation performance against
the lumped disturbance that estimates the roll-center deviation
from nominal.

IV. R OLL S TABILITY I NDICATOR

This section presents a dynamic RSI that incorporates the roll
center movement. The proposed indicator produces a threshold
in terms of lateral acceleration, which is calculated from a
roll-plane-suspended vehicle model. The estimated parameters
described in Section III are used to calculate the level of the
RSI. The detailed derivation of an RSI for a roll plane model
with a fixed roll center can be found in [5].
The proposed RSI for a roll model with moving roll center
can be derived from the forces and moment equations in the
suspended roll model shown in Fig. 4. The summation of
forces for the sprung mass in the Y- and Z-directions is calculated as



FY = Frc,y cos + Frc,z sin ms ay = 0

(12)

FZ = Frc,y sin + Frc,z cos ms g = 0

(13)

where Frc,y and Frc,z denote the reaction forces at the roll
center, and ms are the road bank angle and the sprung
mass, respectively, and ay represents the lateral acceleration.
Summing moments about the roll center for the sprung mass
and about the outer tire contact point yield


Mrc = ms ay l cos + ms gl sin K = 0

(14)

Mo = K + Frc,y hrc Frc,z (cw /2 crc ) + Fi,z cw = 0

(15)

where l, cw , K , and denote the distance between the sprung

mass center of gravity and the roll center, the track width,
the roll stiffness, and the body roll angle, respectively. The
roll center parameters hrc and crc are assumed to change as a
vehicle rolls. The roll center reaction forces, after manipulating
(12) and (13), are found to be
Frc,y = ms ay cos ms g sin

(16)

Frc,z = ms g cos + ms ay sin .

(17)

Using the geometry on the moment arm in Fig. 4, which is

described by
l cos = hcg,s hrc

(18)

and the moment equation of (14), the following equation is

derived:
K = ms ay l cos( ) + ms gl sin( )
= ms (hcg,s hrc )
(ay cos g sin + (ay sin + g cos )tan ). (19)
Substituting the roll center reaction forces of (16) and (17)
into (4) and letting Fiz = 0 becomes


K + ms ay cos g sin hrc


ms ay sin + g cos (cw /2 crc ) = 0 (20)
where ay denotes the roll angle at the roll stability limit [5].
Then, by substituting (19) into (20), the preceding equation
yields





ay
ay
cos sin hcg,s =
sin + cos
g
g
((cw /2 crc ) (hcg,s hrc ) tan ) . (21)

With further manipulations and solving for ay , the RSI becomes

t
ay
e + 2h

=
t
g
1 e 2h

(22)

with
e = tan
t = cw 2crc 2(hcg,s hrc ) tan
h = hcg,s
where e, t , and h are defined as the modified superelevation,
the modified track width, and the modified center of gravity
height, respectively.
Equation (22) implies that the RSI depends on the location
of the roll center, the height of the vehicle center of gravity,
and the roll angle. This indicator is dynamic in the sense that
it changes as a vehicle rolls. The level of this indicator can
determine the impending vehicle rollover. If the value of the
lateral acceleration is larger than that of the indicator, then
vehicle rollover is imminent.
To determine an accurate value for the RSI, it is desirable
to incorporate the roll center movement, which is either calculated or estimated from other vehicle outputs. The indicator of
(22) depends on the true roll center parameters crc and hrc .
Equation (22) may be rewritten to incorporate estimates of
these parameters obtained using the modified RLSDA and (6)
as follows:

t
ay
e + 2h

=
t
g
1 e 2h

(23)

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TABLE I
VEHICLE PARAMETERS

with
e = tan


rc tan
crc 2 hcg,s hfrc h
t = cw 2

Fig. 5. Steering input and vehicle outputs (J-turn maneuver at 45 km/h).

h = hcg,s
rc denote the estimated parameters of crc
where crc and h
and hrc , respectively. This proposed indicator requires the
quantities of the road bank angle and the roll angle, which may
be measured from sensors or estimated by observers. In this
paper, it is assumed that the roll angle is obtained from a roll
angle sensor.
V. S IMULATION
In this section, the proposed RSI is evaluated through simulations. A large SUV model in CarSim with nonlinear suspension
stiffness and damping is used as a full vehicle model. The
vehicle parameters for this model are shown in Table I.
A. No Rollover Case
First, for the case where there is no rollover, a J-turn
maneuver is simulated on a road with zero bank angle at
the initial speed of 45 km/h and the steering wheel angle
of 360 (the steering gear ratio is 20). The steering wheel
angle, the lateral acceleration, and the roll behavior in this case
are illustrated in Fig. 5. As shown in this figure, the lateral
acceleration remains below 0.8 g, the steady-state roll angle
stays around 6 , and the roll rate converges to zero, which
is a normal driving condition that does not induce vehicle
rollover.
Fig. 6 shows the estimated vertical and lateral movements of
the roll center during this maneuver. As shown in Fig. 6, the
estimation algorithm works fairly well. The true value of the
roll center height is calculated from the lateral load transfer
through the links divided by the net tire lateral force and
multiplied by the track width as follows [15]:
hrc =

FTL
cw
Fy

(24)

Fig. 6. Estimated roll center movements.

where FTL , Fy , and cw denote the lateral load transfer through

the links, the net tire lateral force, and the track width, respectively. The lateral load transfer through the links, which is called
the net link load transfer, is calculated from the part of the
lateral load transfer left after the sprung moment is subtracted
[17]. The true value of the lateral deviation is obtained from the
geometric relation between the two roll models shown in (6).
As another evaluation of the estimated roll center movement,
the roll responses of a lower order vehicle model compensated
by injecting the additional roll moment shown in (7) are compared with the other vehicle models in Fig. 7. The three models
in the figure: 1) simple roll model; 2) CarSim; and 3) simple
model with the compensation denoted by a simple lower-order
vehicle model with fixed roll center, a CarSim model, and a
low-order vehicle model with additional roll moment, respectively. As shown in the figure, the roll responses of the simple
model with roll moment compensation are well matched with
those of CarSim for both transient and steady-state conditions.
This indicates that with the additional roll moment (which
includes effective roll stiffness, roll damping, and roll center

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Fig. 7. Compensated roll motion in a lower order model.

Fig. 9.

Vehicles input and outputs (J-turn, 110 km/h).

Fig. 8. Roll stability boundary (J-turn, no rollover case).

Fig. 10.

movements), the roll behavior of a simple roll model can

describe a more realistic roll motion that is obtained from a full
vehicle model or real data.
Next, the performance of the proposed rollover warning
index is graphically shown in Fig. 8. In detail, the boundary for
the roll stable region is illustrated in Fig. 8, where the abscissa
and the ordinate represent the lateral acceleration and the roll
angle, respectively. The indicator (RSI) starts from the same
value as that of the SSF and then varies, depending upon the
vehicle behavior. Here, the right side of the indicator is the rollover region, and the left side of the indicator is the roll stable
region. As shown in Fig. 8, the vehicle motion does not cross
over the line of the RSI, which means that the vehicle does not
roll over.
B. Rollover Case
1) J-Turn Maneuver: In this maneuver, a vehicle runs on a
curved road with zero bank angle at an initial speed of 110 km/h
and a steering wheel angle of 360 . The lateral acceleration, the
roll angle, and the roll rate are illustrated in Fig. 9. As shown

Roll stability boundary (J-turn, rollover case).

in Fig. 9, the lateral acceleration falls to zero, and the roll angle
and the roll rate are increasing as the vehicle rolls over.
Using the proposed RSI, the roll stability boundary can be
determined, as shown in Fig. 10. Starting from the initial point
of (0, 0), the vehicle motion crosses over the line of the RSI and
later the line of the SSF. The values of the lateral acceleration
when it crosses these lines are 0.72 and 0.81 g, respectively,
which means that the critical lateral acceleration value for the
RSI is smaller than that of the SSF. The RSI gives the rollover
warning signal earlier than the SSF, which means that the driver
or the controller has enough time to act to prevent vehicle
rollover. The figure also indicates the time of the two-wheel
liftoff, which is later than that of the RSI and earlier than that
of the SSF in this paper.
2) J-Turn Maneuver on a Nonzero Bank Angle Road: In
this maneuver, a vehicle runs on a circular road with 8% bank
and a radius of 500 ft. The simulation is conducted in a J-turn
maneuver, where an initial speed and the final steering wheel
angle are set to be 110 km/h and 200 , respectively. For this
case, the height of the sprung mass center of gravity is assumed

JUNG et al.: VEHICLE ROLL-STABILITY INDICATOR INCORPORATING ROLL-CENTER MOVEMENTS

Fig. 11. Vehicle outputs (J-turn on a banked road).

Fig. 12. Roll stability boundary (J-turn on a banked road, rollover case).

to be 1100 mm to make the vehicle roll over easily. The resulting roll angle, roll rate, and lateral acceleration are illustrated
in Fig. 11. This figure shows that the roll angle and the roll
rate increase, whereas the lateral acceleration goes to zero, as a
vehicle rolls over. In this simulation, the two-wheel liftoff occurs near when the lateral acceleration and the roll angle reach
around 0.78 g and 2.2 , respectively.
The performance of the proposed RSI is evaluated and illustrated in Fig. 12, where the vehicle motion starts at some initial
condition and crosses over the line of the RSI as the lateral
acceleration and the roll angle are increased. The proposed
indicator threshold was exceeded just prior to the time of twowheel liftoff. This shows that the proposed rollover warning
indicator works quite well in predicting vehicle rollover for
the case when a vehicle runs on a curved road with a bank
angle.
3) Fishhook Maneuver: A fishhook maneuver, i.e., the
NHTSA Fishhook 1a, is conducted with the initial speed of
88 km/h. Here, the road bank angle is assumed to be zero. The

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Fig. 13. Input and vehicle outputs in a fishhook maneuver (rollover case).

NHTSA Fishhook 1a is one of the standard rollover maneuvers conducted by the NHTSA. The handwheel magnitude is
calculated by multiplying the handwheel angle that produced
an average of 0.3 g in the slowly increasing steer maneuver
at 50 mi/h by the scalar 6.5. The commanded dwell time is
250 ms, and the handwheel rates of the initial steer and countersteer ramps are 720 /s. The steering wheel angle, the lateral
acceleration, the roll angle, and the roll rate are illustrated in
Fig. 13, which shows vehicle rollover. The roll angle and the
roll rate increase as the two right wheels lift off the ground as
the vehicle rolls over.
Hereafter, the proposed RSI is compared with the lateral
LTR, which is calculated from the vertical load at each wheel.
To compare the two indicators, the proposed RSI is normalized
by the current lateral acceleration divided by the critical threshold, as described by
 ay
if |ay | < |ay |
,
(25)
RSI = |ay |
1, else
where ay and ay denote the current lateral acceleration and
the critical lateral acceleration of (23), respectively. The value
of 1 indicates that rollover is impending. The lateral LTR is
defined as [8]
LTR :=

Fzr Fzl
Fzr + Fzl

(26)

where Fzr and Fzl denote the total vertical loads at the right
and left wheels, respectively. The value of the LTR varies from
0 for no lateral load transfer to 1 when the two wheels lift
off. These two indicators are compared in Fig. 14. It suggests
that the proposed indicator works quite well in predicting
the impending vehicle rollover, showing a similar output to
the LTR.
In addition, the performance of the RSI is compared with
those of the other existing rollover warning algorithms such
as the dynamic stability indicator, an energy-based measure,
and a rollover index based on time-to-wheel lift. The dynamic

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 58, NO. 8, OCTOBER 2009

Fig. 14. Normalized RSI (Fishhook maneuver).

stability indicator (i.e., DSI) is defined as the sum of the lateral

acceleration and the roll acceleration as follows [11]:
DSI :=

Ixxs
ay
+
g
mghcg

(27)

where is the sprung mass roll acceleration, and Ixxs is the

sprung mass roll moment of inertia. A vehicle rollover warning
will occur when the DSI exceeds SSF. The WWLO , which is an
energy-based measure, is the local maximum point of potential
energy and is calculated as follows [12], [13]:
WWLO :=

Ecrit Eroll
Ecrit

(28)

where Eroll and Ecrit denote the total energy in the roll moment
and the total energy at the critical situation, respectively. The
total energy Eroll is determined from the sum of the potential
energy and the kinetic energy. The critical energy Ecrit is
obtained from Eroll when two wheels lift off.
A rollover index based on the time-to-wheel lift [14] is
calculated from the roll angleroll rate phase plane analysis,
a predefined wheel lift threshold, and the current lateral acceleration. In detail, the index is a function of the present roll
angle, roll rate, lateral acceleration, and each threshold value as
follows [14]:
th ) + c2 f (ay , ay,th ) + c3 f (, )
(29)
RI := c1 f (, th , ,
where c1 , c2 , and c3 are the weighting factors among the three
factors, and th , th , and ay,th denote the thresholds in the roll
angle, roll rate, and lateral acceleration, respectively. Here, the
values of the weight factors are significant in indicating the
danger of vehicle rollover, and in this paper, the factors are
selected for the best performance by trial and error.
Fig. 15 shows the phase planes between the roll angle
and the roll rate and between the roll angle and the lateral
acceleration, where each indicator is compared. In this figure,
WLO, OWLO, RI, RSI, TWLO, and DSI indicate the energybased measure (WWLO ), the one-axle-based LTR, the rollover
index based on the time-to-wheel lift, the proposed indicator,
the two-axle-based LTR, and the dynamic stability indicator,

Fig. 15. Comparison of the rollover warning time (fishhook maneuver). (a)
Roll angle versus roll rate. (b) Roll angle versus roll rate.

respectively. As the roll angle increases, the impending vehicle

rollover is indicated by WWLO , followed by the one-wheel
liftoff (OWLO), the RI, the RSI, the two-wheel liftoff (TWLO),
and, finally, the DSI. From the phase plane of the roll angle
versus the roll rate, it is illustrated that the proposed RSI is
located between the OWLO-based LTR and the TWLO-based
LTR, and it is the closest to the TWLO-based LTR among the
other indicators. In addition, from the phase plane of the roll
angle versus the lateral acceleration, using only the information
of the lateral acceleration shows some limitation in providing a
timely rollover warning.
To summarize, three rollover scenarios were simulated to
show the effectiveness of the proposed RSI by comparing them
with other existing rollover warning algorithms. The simulation
results show that the proposed indicator performs well in indicating rollover, and it could potentially be used to predict the
impending vehicle rollover.
VI. C ONCLUSION
Vehicle roll center information is important in roll dynamics
and roll stability controls as the vehicle roll angle increases.

JUNG et al.: VEHICLE ROLL-STABILITY INDICATOR INCORPORATING ROLL-CENTER MOVEMENTS

This paper has proposed a dynamic RSI that incorporates roll

center movement for rollover prevention systems. A robust
parameter-estimation algorithm is designed to estimate the
lateral and vertical roll center movements. These estimates
are used in the RSI algorithm to update its rollover threshold
value, which depends upon the roll center location and the
roll angle. The simulation results show that the estimated roll
center movement converges to the true values, and the proposed
indicator provides good performance by comparing it with the
other rollover warning algorithms.
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Jongchul Jung received the B.S. and M.S. degrees

in precision mechanical engineering and the Ph.D.
degree in automotive engineering from Hanyang
University, Seoul, Korea, in 1996, 1998, and 2006,
respectively.
He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher with the
University of MichiganDearborn. He has a research
background in vehicle dynamics and control, robust
observer design, estimation and control theory, and
convex optimization.

Taehyun Shim received the B.S. degree from

Hankuk Aviation University, Kyonggi, Korea, in
1992 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California at
Davis in 1997 and 2000, respectively.
Since 2001, he has been with the faculty of the
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University
of MichiganDearborn, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His teaching and research interests
include the mathematical modeling and simulation
of dynamic systems, vehicle dynamics, control of
vehicle stability, tire dynamics, and vibration control.

Jamie Gertsch received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University,
Provo, UT, in 1998 and the M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California at
Davis in 2000.
His research interests include the application of
modeling and simulation to ground vehicles to
achieve improvements in vehicle dynamics and mobility and modeling whole system performance to
facilitate design tradeoffs.