Title: The handling characteristics of a transit bus

Authors: Nan Yu, Saravanan Muthiah, Bohdan T. Kulakowski

Addresses: The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. ' The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. ' The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

Abstract: Good vehicle handling characteristics are essential to ensure traffic safety. While the handling behaviour of cars has been well investigated, there is a scarcity of such studies on transit buses. This paper analyses the steady-state and transient responses of a typical 12-metre transit bus. Tests were conducted at The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute (PTI) test track and included constant radius cornering, step steer and continuous sinusoidal steer. The test bus was found to show good transient performance and consistent understeer behaviour within the test range. The necessity for dedicated performance evaluation criteria for transit buses is put forth in the paper.

Keywords: transit buses; handling characteristics; steady-state cornering; step steer; sinusoidal steer; understeer gradient; vehicle handling; safety; handling behaviour; transient performance; vehicle systems testing; performance evaluation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2007.013892

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2007 Vol.2 No.2, pp.138 - 152

Published online: 01 Jun 2007 *

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