Modelling of a Partially Loaded Road Tanker during a Braking-in-a-Turn Maneuver

Abstract

Road safety depends on several factors associated with the vehicle, to the infrastructure, as well as to the environment and experience of vehicle drivers. Concerning the vehicle factors influencing the safety level of an infrastructure, it has been shown that the dynamic interaction between the carried liquid cargo and the vehicle influences the operational safety limits of the vehicle. A combination of vehicle and infrastructure factors converge when a vehicle carrying liquid cargo at a partial fill level performs a braking maneuver along a curved road segment. Such a maneuver involves both longitudinal and lateral load transfers that potentially affect both the braking efficiency and the lateral stability of the vehicle. In this paper, a series of models are set together to simulate the effects of a sloshing cargo on the braking efficiency and load transfer rate of a partially filled road tanker. The model assumes the superposition of the roll and pitch independent responses, while the vehicle is equipped with Anti-lock braking System brakes (ABS) in the four wheels. Results suggest that cargo sloshing can affect the performance of the vehicle on the order of 2% to 9%, as a function of the performance measure considered. A dedicated ABS system could be considered to cope with such diminished performance.

Road Roughness Estimation Based on the Vehicle Frequency Response Function

“…Vector F represents the excitations applied to the vehicle, which are caused by road roughness r, as shown in Equation (2), and is related to the stiffness K t of the wheel. The component elements of the system matrices are shown in Equation (3).…”

“…Road surface conditions play an important role in road driving quality, comfort, and safety [1][2][3], and they are also essential for vehicle dynamics design and fatigue life [4][5][6]. Furthermore, they can provide valid data for road network maintenance [7,8] and durability applications [9].…”