Stability of Heavy Articulated Vehicles: Effect of Load Distribution

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the influence of load distribution on the stability of heavy articulated vehicles is analyzed. In general, heavy articulated vehicles have low performance with respect to stability analysis, being the focus of many studies in literature. Several characteristics of the vehicles have been analyzed to determine their influence on the vehicle stability calculation; however, load distribution is rarely analyzed. To conduct this research, the Davies method is used to obtain the static of the mechanism that represent the last trailer of the vehicle. Using this method, the longitudinal, lateral and vertical displacements of the center of gravity (CG) are investigated, and a sensitivity analysis is made. Finally, a numerical case study is showed and the results of this study demonstrate that the load distribution has important role on the static rollover threshold (SRT) calculation.