Abstract
The air suspension system has become more and more popular in heavy vehicles and buses to improve ride comfort and road holding. This paper focuses on the evaluation of the dynamic load reduction at all axles of a semi-trailer with an air suspension system, in comparison with the one using a leaf spring suspension system on variable speed and road types. First, a full vertical dynamic model is proposed for a tractor semi-trailer (full model) with two types of suspension systems (leaf spring and air spring) for three axles at the semi-trailer, while the tractor’s axles use leaf spring suspension systems. The air suspension systems are built based on the GENSYS model; meanwhile, the remaining structural parameters are considered equally. The full model has been validated by experimental results, and closely follows the dynamical characteristics of the real tractor semi-trailer, with the percent error of the highest value being 6.23% and Pearson correlation coefficient being higher than 0.8, corresponding to different speeds. The survey results showed that the semi-trailer with the air suspension system can reduce the dynamic load of the entire field of speed from 20 to 100 km/h, given random road types from A to F according to the ISO 8608:2016 standard. The dynamic load coefficient (DLC) with the semi-trailer using the air spring suspension system can be reduced on average from 14.8% to 29.3%, in comparison with the semi-trailer using the leaf spring suspension system.
Highlights
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possibility to reduce the dynamic load of a semi-trailer by using the air suspension system against the leaf spring suspension system
This paper presented fullofvertical dynamicusing model a tractor semi-trailer
This paper presented a full vertical dynamic model of a tractor semi-trailer
Summary
Tractor semi-trailers are an important means of freight transport worldwide. In the US, about 11 billion tons of commodities are transported every year by this mode, valued at USD 700.4 billion, creating jobs for approximately 10 million people. There were about 5.6 million tractor semi-trailers [1] in the US in 2014. The number of tractor semi-trailers in various European countries as of 2012 was as follows: approximately. 310,000 vehicles in France, nearly 290,000 in Germany, more than 270,000 in Poland, more than 250,000 in Spain, more than 200,000 in Turkey, more than 130,000 in The Netherlands, approximately 100,000 in Italy, close to 80,000 in Romania, and approximately 50,000 in. Tractor semi-trailers have made remarkable contributions to the socio-economic growth and transportation sector development, yet due to the nature of the heavy load of these vehicles, roads need protecting in a serious manner. There are two fundamental solutions to reduce the vertical dynamic tire forces on roads, i.e.,
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
