Title: Theoretical study of vehicle wandering phenomenon induced by dented road cross profile

Authors: M. Nagai, K. Koike

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei-shi, Tokyo 184, Japan. ' Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei-shi, Tokyo 184, Japan

Abstract: Although wandering phenomenon of passenger and commercial cars is often experienced on damaged and dented roads, this phenomenon has not been theoretically studied so far. The objectives of this paper are to show, using linear stability theory, how and why the wandering phenomenon occurs. Firstly, the fourth-order characteristic equation of a car running on a damaged road surface, taking the cross profile into account, is derived to theoretically analyse the running stability. Secondly, by root locus analysis of the characteristic equation, it is clearly found that the vehicle body fluctuation on dented roads is much influenced by the forward velocity, the depth of the dented track, and the vehicle body parameters. Thirdly, this paper analyses the influence of the front steering system on the wandering phenomenon. It is found that the vehicle stability is greatly influenced by steering system parameters such as the steering stiffness, the damping coefficient and the driver|s steering input.

Keywords: dented road cross profile; theoretical modelling; vehicle dynamics; vehicle wandering; linear stability; damaged road surfaces; root locus analysis; front steering; vehicle stability; surface damage.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.1994.054527

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 1994 Vol.1 No.2, pp.182 - 194

Published online: 18 Jun 2013 *

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