Title: Suspension and tyres: stability of heavy vehicles

Authors: Gonzalo Moreno; Lauro Cesar Nicolazzi; Rodrigo De Souza Vieira; Daniel Martins

Addresses: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, SC, 88040-900, Brazil; University of Pamplona, Pamplona, 543050, Colombia ' Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, SC, 88040-900, Brazil ' Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, SC, 88040-900, Brazil ' Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, SC, 88040-900, Brazil

Abstract: The static stability factor (SSF) of a vehicle is mainly dependent on the lateral and vertical location of the vehicle's centre of gravity (CG) and this point is, in turn, influenced by many factors associated with, for instance, the vehicle suspension, tyres and the fifth-wheel among others. These systems allow the movement of the vehicle body along with its CG, which modifies substantially the SSF calculation. This paper describes the modelling of a leaf spring suspension system and the tyres using mechanism theory and subsequent kinematic analysis using the Davies method. The proposed model is planar and allows relative motion between the sprung and unsprung masses of the vehicle. This paper also compares the classic vehicle stability analysis with the proposed model, and the influence of the suspension and tyres in relation to the vehicle stability is evaluated.

Keywords: leaf spring; suspension; tyres; kinematics; SSF; static stability factor; Davies method; heavy vehicle; graph theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2017.087221

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2017 Vol.24 No.4, pp.305 - 326

Received: 12 Nov 2015
Accepted: 25 May 2016
Published online: 11 Oct 2017 *

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