A Distributed Braking Scheme for Heavy-Haul Trains Using Coupler Force Compensation

Jilie Zhang; Zhiyong Chen; Ge Guo

doi:10.1109/JAS.2025.125870

Volume 13 Issue 4

Apr. 2026

IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica

JCR Impact Factor: 19.2, Top 1 (SCI Q1)

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Article Navigation > IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica > 2026 > 13(4): 877-887

J. Zhang, Z. Chen, and G. Guo, “A distributed braking scheme for heavy-haul trains using coupler force compensation,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 877–887, Apr. 2026. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2025.125870

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J. Zhang, Z. Chen, and G. Guo, “A distributed braking scheme for heavy-haul trains using coupler force compensation,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 877–887, Apr. 2026. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2025.125870

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A Distributed Braking Scheme for Heavy-Haul Trains Using Coupler Force Compensation

doi: 10.1109/JAS.2025.125870

Funds: The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62373312, 62173079, 62573104), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2682025XJ007), and Hebei Natural Science Foundation (F2025501051)

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Author Bio:
Jilie Zhang received the B.S. degree in automation from Liaoning University of Technology in 2007 and the M.S. degree in control theory and control engineering from Kunming University of Science and Technology in 2010. He received the Ph.D. degree in the College of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University in 2014. He is currently a Professor at Southwest Jiaotong University. His current research interests include heavy-haul train control, vehicle platoon, and multi-agent system

Zhiyong Chen received the B.E. degree in automation from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2000, and the M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical and automation engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, in 2002 and 2005, respectively. He worked as a Research Associate at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, from 2005 to 2006. In 2006, he joined The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia, where he is currently a Professor. He was also a Changjiang Chair Professor with Central South University. His research interests include nonlinear systems and control, biological systems, and reinforcement learning. Dr. Chen is/was an Associate Editor of Automatica, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics

Ge Guo (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree and PhD degree from Northeastern University in 1994 and 1998, respectively. From May 2000 to April 2005, he was with Lanzhou University of Technology as a Professor and the director of the Institute of Intelligent Control and Robots. He then joined Dalian Maritime University as a Professor with the Department of Automation. Since 2018, he has been a Professor with Northeastern University (NEU) and the director of the Center of Intelligent Transportation Systems of NEU. He has published over 260 international journal papers within his areas of interest, which include intelligent transportation systems, cyber-physical systems, etc. Dr. Guo is a Senior Editor of IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, Information Sciences, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine, ACTA Automatica Sinica, China Journal of Highway and Transport and Journal of Control and Decision, etc. He won several awards including the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA) Young Scientist Award, the First Prize of Natural Science Award of Hebei Province, the First Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of Gansu Province, etc
Corresponding author: Zhiyong Chen, e-mail: zhiyong.chen@newcastle.edu.au
Received Date: 2025-01-12
Revised Date: 2025-05-07
Accepted Date: 2025-08-18

Abstract

Abstract

In this paper, a novel distributed braking scheme is proposed for automatic heavy-haul trains equipped with an electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking system. The scheme consists of a coupler force compensator and a cooperative controller. The compensator is designed to counteract the coupler force acting on each car, i.e., the forces from its front and rear adjacent cars. With this compensation, the braking control problem is transformed into a platooning problem of multiple vehicles. The cooperative controller then regulates the velocity and position of adjacent cars. Numerical studies using MATLAB and the Universal Mechanism simulator are conducted to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed scheme.
- Coupler force,
- distributed braking control,
- heavy-haul trains,
- platooning control,
- robust control

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References(34)

References

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A Distributed Braking Scheme for Heavy-Haul Trains Using Coupler Force Compensation

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