The Transient Directional Response of Full Trailers

Frequency response methods are applied in developing an understanding of the influence of design parameters on the directional performance of commercial vehicle combinations employing full trailers. Transfer functions are used to describe the contributions of full trailers, trucks, and tractor-semitrailers to the rearward amplification between the lateral accelerations of the towing and last units in truck-full trailers, doubles, and triples combinations. These transfer functions show how forward velocity, distances from pintle hitches to center-of-gravity locations, and cornering coefficients influence rearward amplification.