The Dynamic Stability Testing of Articulated Vehicles

This paper describes a full-scale truck testing program designed to investigate the rollover behaviour of articulated vehicles. Test details and equipment including vehicle manoeuvres, anti-rollover outrigger, instrumentation and data acquisition system will be discussed. Results of suspension and handling characteristics, as well as steady state and dynamic rollover behaviour of vehicle combinations are presented. The steady state rollover threshold of test vehicles obtained from constant radius turn tests is found to be slightly lower than static tilt test results. The main factors that contribute to the discrepancy include the lateral tyre restraint on the tilt deck and the asymmetric rollover behaviour of test vehicles. A good agreement between these two test methods can be obtained by properly accounting for those factors. Under transient conditions, the rollover behaviour of test vehicles is affected by the phase difference in lateral acceleration between the prime mover and the trailer.