Motorcycle Dynamics

This page contains a limited bibliography of technical papers related to the modling and simulation of motorcycle dynamics. Much of the work has been done in the UK, where Prof. Robin Sharp works with the same symbolic code generator (VehicleSim Lisp, formally known as AutoSim) used by Mechanical Simulation.


Y. Watanabe and M. W. Sayers. "The Effect of a New Stability Control on the Simulated Cornering Behavior of Motorcycles," Proceedings of Bicycle and Motorcycle Dynamics 2016 - Symposium on the Dynamics and Control of Single Track Vehicles, September 2016, Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. Click here for the paper. Show summary

R. S. Sharp and Y. Watanabe. "Chatter vibrations of high-performance motorcycles," Vehicle System Dynamics: International Journal of Vehicle Mechanics and Mobility, Taylor and Francis, DOI:10.1080/00423114.2012.727440, October 2012. Show summary

Y. Watanabe and M. W. Sayers. "The Effect of Nonlinear Suspension Kinematics on the Simulated Pitching and Cornering Behavior of Motorcycles."SAE paper 2011-01-0960, April 2011. Show summary

R. S. Sharp, Motorcycle Steering Control by Road Preview, Trans. ASME, Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, 2007. Click here for the paper | Show summary

R. S. Sharp, Optimal linear time-invariant preview steering control for motorcycles, The Dynamics of Vehicles on Roads and on Tracks (S. Bruni and G. Mastinu eds), supplement to VSD 44(1), Taylor and Francis (London), 2007.

R. S. Sharp, Motorcycle handling dynamics, Road and off-road Vehicle System Dynamics Handbook (eds Giampiero Mastinu and Manfred Plöchl), Taylor and Francis, London, 2007.

R. S. Sharp, Motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles, Road and off-road Vehicle System Dynamics Handbook (eds Giampiero Mastinu and Manfred Plöchl), Taylor and Francis, London, 2007.

R. S. Sharp, Optimal stabilisation and path-following controls for a bicycle, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, Proc. I. Mech. E., Part C, 2007. Show summary

R. S. Sharp, Dynamics of Motorcycles: Stability and Control, in Dynamical Analysis of Vehicle Systems: Theoretical Foundations and Advanced Applications (ed. W Schiehlen), Springer, Wien/ New York, 2007, pp. 47, in press.

R. S. Sharp, Application of optimal preview control to speed tracking of road vehicles, Multibody Dynamics, Milan, 25-28 June, 2007. Show summary

Evangelou, S., Limebeer, D. J. N., Sharp, R. S. and Smith, M. C., Mechanical steering compensators for high-performance motorcycles, ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, 73 (5), 2006. Show summary

D. J. N. Limebeer and R. S. Sharp, Bicycles, motorcycles and models, IEEE Control Systems Magazine, Special issue on Advances in Motorcycle Design and Control, October 2006, 26(5), 34-61.

S. Evangelou, D. J. N. Limebeer, R. S. Sharp and M. C. Smith, Steering compensation for high-performance motorcycles: Passive mechanical compensators incorporating inerters, IEEE Control Systems Magazine, Special issue on Advances in Motorcycle Design and Control, October 2006, 26(5), 78-88.

S. Evangelou, D. J. N. Limebeer, R. S. Sharp, and M. C. Smith, An H-inf loop-shaping approach to steering control for high-performance motorcycles , in Control of Uncertain Systems: Modelling, Approximation, and Design (Bruce A. Francis, Malcolm C. Smith, Jan. C. Willems eds), Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2006, 257-275. Show summary

Sharp, R. S., Evangelou, S. and Limebeer, D. J. N., Multibody aspects of motorcycle modelling, Advances in Computational Multibody Systems, J. Ambrósio (Ed.), Springer-Verlag, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2005, 45-68. Show summary

Sharp, R. S., Limebeer, D. J. N. and Shaeri, A., Nonlinear vibrations of motorcycles forced by regular road roughness, Proc. 5 th Euromech Nonlinear Dynamics Conference, August 7-12, 2005, Eindhoven.

R. S. Sharp and D. J. N. Limebeer, On steering wobble oscillations of motorcycles,Proc. I. Mech. E., Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, 218, 2004, 1449-1456. Show summary

Sharp, R. S., Evangelou, S. and Limebeer, D. J. N., Advances in the modelling of motorcycle dynamics, Multibody System Dynamics, 12(3), 2004, 251-283. Show summary

S. Evangelou, D. J. N. Limebeer, R. S. Sharp, and M. C. Smith, Steering compensation for high-performance motorcycles, Proc. 43 rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Bahamas, Dec. 14-17, 2004, 749-754. Show summary

Shaeri, A., Limebeer, D. J. N. and Sharp, R. S., Nonlinear steering oscillations of motorcycles, Proc. 43 rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Bahamas, Dec. 14-17, 2004, 773-778. Show summary

Sharp, R. S., Evangelou, S. and Limebeer, D. J. N., Improved modelling of motorcycle dynamics, ECCOMAS Thematic Conference, Multibody Dynamics 2003, Lisbon, July 1-4, MB2003-029 (CD-ROM). Show summary

D. J. N. Limebeer, R. S. Sharp and S. Evangelou, “Motorcycle steering oscillations due to road profiling”, Proc. ASME, Journal of Applied Mechanics, 69 (6), 2002, 724-739. Show summary

R. S. Sharp and D. J. N. Limebeer, "A motorcycle model for stability and control analysis", Multibody System Dynamics, 6(2), 2001, 123-142. Show summary

D. J. N. Limebeer, R. S. Sharp and S. Evangelou, “The stability of motorcycles under acceleration and braking” Proc. I. Mech. E., Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, 215(C9), 2001, 1095 - 1109. Show summary

Sharp, R. S., Stability, control and steering responses of motorcycles, Vehicle System Dynamics, 35(4-5), 2001, 291-318. Show summary

Robin S. Sharp, “Variable geometry active rear suspension for motorcycles”, Proceedings of AVEC 2000, Ann Arbor, MI, August 2000, 389-395. Show summary

Robin S. Sharp, David J. N. Limebeer and Mahbub R. Gani, "A motorcycle model for stability and control analysis", Advances in Computational and Multibody Dynamics (Jorge A. C. Ambrosio and Werner O. Schiehlen Eds), IDMEC/IST Euromech Colloquium 404, 1999, 287-312.

M. Gani, D. J. N. Limebeer and R. S. Sharp, "The analysis of motorcycle dynamics and control", International Workshop on Modelling and Control of Mechanical Systems, Imperial College, London, June 17-20, 1997.

M. Gani, D. Limebeer and R.S. Sharp, "Multibody simulation software in the analysis of motorcycle dynamics", 8th IFAC/IFIP/IFORS Symposium on Transportation Systems '97, June 16-18, 1997, Chania, Greece.

M. Gani, RS Sharp and D.J.N. Limebeer, "Multibody simulation software in the study of two-wheeled road vehicles", 35th IEEE Conf. Decision and Control, Kobe, Japan, Dec. 11-13, 1996.

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