ROAD BREAKAWAY ROLLOVER MITIGATION WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE ELECTROMECHANICAL ACTIVE SUSPENSION SYSTEMS

There have been several hundred rollovers in military vehicles in the last decade of deployment, of which approximately fifty percent are fall-based that occur during off-road operations. Off-road fall-based rollovers occur at lower speeds during road breakaway when the soft road gives way underneath the vehicle on one side as the soil is unable to support the vehicle load (Figure 1). A simulation-based study was conducted to explore potential off-road rollover mitigation benefits for the heavy vehicles with higher center of gravity such as MRAPs, MATV, and JLTV through the use of high performance active suspension systems. The study developed a system architecture based on the ElectroMechanical Suspension (EMS) technology and developed a medium fidelity MATLAB-Simulink-DADS model. Simulation results indicated substantial rollover mitigation benefits for MRAP/JLTV class vehicles, especially in road breakaway scenarios. Potential DoD beneficiaries include the Army and Marines, who rely on tactical and combat wheeled vehicles in off-road and on-road environments, potentially with unstable roadways/terrains. This paper describes fall-based rollover problem; active EMS technology based approach; and the simulation results.