Title: Stability of an articulated vehicle with suspended cargo

Authors: Luigi di Bari Mangialardi, Giacomo Mantriota

Addresses: Dipartimento di Progettazione e Produzione Industriale, Politecnico di Bari, Viale Japigia, 182, 70126 Bari, Italy. Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Fisica dell'Ambiente, Università della Basilicata, C. da Macchia Romana, 3, 85100 Potenza, Italy

Abstract: Tractor-trailers are widely used to convey. Frequently they are used for suspended cargo transport, for example in refrigerated vehicles for the transport of meat. In this work, the stability of equipped articulated suspended cargo vehicles has been studied. The objective is to characterise possible conditions of instability that can be induced by the presence of oscillating cargo. By means of a linear mathematical model of the articulated vehicle, the critical speed has been determined and of the sensitivity of the critical speed to the variation of some characteristic parameters of the vehicle has been analysed. Finally, the improvement is when a passive device of viscous type was inserted between the tractor and the trailer has been examined.

Keywords: heavy vehicles; suspended cargo; tractor-trailer combinations; vehicle dynamics; vehicle stability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2001.001153

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2001 Vol.8 No.1, pp.83-102

Published online: 01 Jul 2003 *

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