Research on service braking control strategy for heavy-duty truck on long downhill based on genetic algorithm

When heavy-duty trucks operate on a long downhill section of expressways, the drum temperature often experiences a sharp rise due to the frequent work of the service braking. Hence, how to operate the brake pedal to avoid heat fading becomes an important issue. To resolve this problem, service braking control strategy based on the genetic algorithm is proposed. It is found that the pedal force and the speed range have a significant effect on the temperature rise, the braking frequency, and the cumulative working time. Therefore, jointly considering the constancy of braking efficiency, the driver fatigue degree and driving safety, a novel control strategy is proposed to optimise the brake pedal force, the desired speed range and the average speed of the heavy-duty truck. The results reveal that the proposed control strategy can effectively reduce the temperature rise, the frequency of brake and the driving intensity for driver.