Rollover threshold investigation of a heavy-duty vehicle during cornering based on multi-body dynamics

Abstract

The objective of this article is to investigate the rollover threshold of a heavy-duty vehicle during cornering. Based on the multi-body dynamics theory, a high-fidelity model is established, which takes account of the chassis flexibility, the suspension nonlinear characteristics, the tire handling model, and Ackermann steering strategy. Furthermore, by the inverse fast Fourier transform method, a three-dimensional stochastic road in space domain is employed in the model to improve the accuracy. A full-size heavy-duty vehicle test was carried out to validate the model. Based on the validated model, the rollover stability and rollover threshold of the heavy-duty vehicle during cornering are investigated. Lateral acceleration, yaw rate, roll angle, and vehicle torsional deflection in different cornering conditions are analyzed. The rollover threshold is summarized by the response surface methodology for the safe cornering purpose. The result shows the practical meaning of improving transportation safety of heavy-duty vehicles and also provides useful insights for developing the rollover warning system.

A Simulation Approach to Investigate the Influence of the Steering Wheel Angle and Vehicle Speed on the Rollover of a 4-Axle Truck Vehicle During Turning on Wet Asphalt Road

“…The multibody system method [18,25] and the Newton-Euler equation system [8,26] are utilized to formulate a set of mathematical equations that describe the motion of a 4-axle truck vehicle. The vehicle body is characterized by 6 DOFs: longitudinal translation, lateral translation, vertical translation, roll rotation, pitch rotation, and yaw rotation.…”

“…The load transfer ratio (LTR) is a measure of the load distribution of the whole vehicle, calculated by comparing the weight on the right and left wheels to the total weight of the vehicle [8,9,17,18]. For a 4-axle truck vehicle, the formula is as follows.…”

“…However, with large loads, the phenomena of lateral instability are much more complicated than with a single-axle vehicle.In recent years, there have been numerous studies conducted on the lateral stability of truck vehicles. These studies have yielded results that evaluate the potential for rollover and side sliding in various motion conditions, such as braking and turning, particularly at high speeds [14,15,16,17,18]. For example, Lundahl [17] analyzed and evaluated the side rollover criteria for truck vehicles with load transfer ratio and proposed a maximum lateral acceleration threshold of 0.55 when Quarter-Circle Maneuver at a speed of 45km/h.…”