Title: A simulation-based comparative study on lateral characteristics of trucks with double and triple trailers

Authors: Yang Chen; Andrew W. Peterson; Ce Zhang; Mehdi Ahmadian

Addresses: Centre for Vehicle Systems and Safety, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA ' Centre for Vehicle Systems and Safety, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA ' Centre for Vehicle Systems and Safety, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA ' Centre for Vehicle Systems and Safety, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

Abstract: This paper investigates the lateral stability and manoeuvrability in long combination vehicles (LCVs), namely semi-trucks with 28-ft doubles, 28-ft triples, and 33-ft doubles, using TruckSim. In particular, the likelihood of rollovers, rearward amplification, and off-tracking are analysed among those LCVs using the multi-domain dynamic models developed in TruckSim. The efforts to validate the truck dynamic model against test results are also included. The simulation results show that trucks with triple trailers exhibit a larger rearward amplification, higher likelihood of rollovers, and larger off-tracking than trucks with double trailers. Additionally, the results indicate that increasing the trailer length from 28 to 33 feet does not increase the likelihood of rollovers or the rearward amplification. In fact, the longer trailers provide a slight amount of additional roll stability due to their longer wheelbase.

Keywords: lateral stability; off-tracking; rearward amplification; rollover; LCVs; long combination vehicles; 33-ft doubles; TruckSim.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVS.2019.101857

International Journal of Vehicle Safety, 2019 Vol.11 No.2, pp.136 - 157

Received: 24 Nov 2018
Accepted: 17 Jun 2019
Published online: 28 Aug 2019 *

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