The sugarcane industry holds the second largest share of production value in the
Brazilian agricultural sector, with Brazil responsible for more than 20% of the
world’s production. Therefore, the increase of efficiency in the production
process of sugarcane is an object of interest for producers, with transportation
playing an important role in the process, both economically and environmentally.
Intending to improve the efficiency in the transportation of sugarcane between
cultivation and processing facilities, this work uses simulations to analyze
safety aspects of a vehicle combination with 11 axles and 91ton capacity, new to
the Brazilian transportation system. Several procedures were performed in a
virtual environment to evaluate the vehicle longitudinal and lateral dynamics,
including weight distribution, overtaking performance, rollover threshold,
rearward amplification, braking and gradeability. The study is focused on
providing information about the feasibility and safety of this vehicle
combination in highway traffic. The simulations were made in the software
TruckSim 2020.1, from Mechanical Simulation, broadly used by the automotive
industry due to its friendly interface when modeling the vehicle and test
procedures. The results obtained indicate that it is possible for these vehicles
to operate safely, as long as some restrictions on the trailer design and
traffic engineering are respected, allowing to increase the efficiency in
sugarcane transportation without compromising traffic safety.