Effects of Tractor and Trailer Torsional Compliance and Fill Level of Tanker Trailers on Rollover Propensity During Steady Cornering

Understanding the parameters which influence the tendency for a heavy truck to exhibit rollover is of paramount importance to the trucking industry. Multiple parameters influence the vehicle’s motion, and the ability to determine how each affects the vehicle as a system would be an indispensable tool for the design of such vehicles. To be able to perform such predictions and analysis, models and a computer simulation were created to allow the examination of changes in design parameters in such vehicles.

The vehicle model was originally developed by Law [1] and presented in Law and Janajreh [2]. The model was extended further by Lawson [3, 4] to include (a) the effects of the torsional compliance of both the tractor and trailer, and (b) tanker trailers with various levels of liquid fill.

In the present paper, both the tractor and trailer compliances were studied independently to determine their influences on the rollover stability of the vehicle. Additionally, rollover characteristics of tankers having a range of fill levels were analyzed.