Citation

Billing JR, Lam CP. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 1992; 1992: 36-44.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, In public domain, Publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper describes how regulatory principles were developed to add straight trucks and truck-trailer combinations to Canada's Memorandum of Understanding on Vehicle Weights and Dimensions. It describes the vehicles studied, the dynamic analysis methods, and the results and conclusions. It briefly describes some full-scale tests, and shows correlations between test and the computer simulation. Finally, it summarizes the principles that will be the basis for regulation of straight trucks and truck- trailer combinations in Canada. Stability and control performance was evaluated using Ontario Ministry of Transportation's personal computer version of the yaw/roll program. Vehicle data were obtained from manufacturers and operators, and by measurement of several hundred trucks at a truck inspection station. Component properties were based on data produced during the Weights and Dimensions study. Aggregate with a density of 140 lb/cu foot was selected as a representative payload, distributed in such a way that assigned axle loads were attained. The following 8 measures were used to characterize vehicle performance: static roll threshold; high speed offtracking; understeer coefficient; load transfer ratio; transient high speed offtracking; low speed offtracking; outswing and friction demand. A limited full scale test was carried out to show that simulation could predict characteristic vehicle responses properly, and predict trends in response as a function of vehicle dimensional changes.