Lane Change Dynamics Versus Geometric Design of Truck and Full Trailer Combinations

The lateral stability of vehicle combinations can be severely reduced at high speed manoeuvres. It is desirable to avoid that combinations with poor performance in this respect are used. Regulations involving computer simulation control have been proposed in Sweden. The method can be characterized as a computer simulated double lane change test. The towing vehicle is guided through the manoeuvre by means of an inverse steering procedure. The safety criteria concern lateral deviations, side slip angle maxima, overturning risk and the relation between risk factors of truck and trailer.

The paper reports a study concerning truck and full trailer combinations with geometric design parameters varied within the limits set by length and axle load regulations in Sweden and GFR. The results show that most of the combinations are acceptable. However, two axle trailers with short platform and three axle trailers with long bogie failed under certain conditions.