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On-center handling is one of the most important test conditions which are used to evaluate the handling performance of both passenger cars and commercial vehicles. This paper aims at investigating and verifying the influence of parameters on on-center handling of articulated trucks. A full vehicle model, including the steering system, suspension system, cab, frame, trailer and so on, was established in first by measuring the parameters of each component. The comparison of simulation and test results shown that the simulation precision of the vehicle model was up to 80%. Based on the model, the influence analysis of parameters, such as stiffness of steering drag link, steering ratio, kingpin friction, were carried out and were verified through the handling test. The analysis results indicated that larger stiffness of steering drag link, smaller gear ratio could enhance the steer sensitivity and steer stiffness, small kingpin friction is beneficial to the steering return ability.

Ride comfort is simply defined as the vibration performance of the vehicle which is excited by road surface roughness, generally as the vehicle moves at specific constant velocity over the road profile. Ride comfort was an important index for heavy truck, due to long distance transfer and long time driving. In order to improve the ride comfort of a heavy truck, a detailed model, including flex frame, chassis suspension, cab suspension, powertrain, etc., was built and assembled by MSC.ADAMS software. Simulation and testing data were consistent very well, which showed the correctness of the model. The optimization of chassis and cab suspension including the stiffness of the leafspring, the damping of the shock absorber, etc. was carried out to improve the ride comfort of the vehicle. The ride comfort testing was carried out on the proving ground to verify the effectiveness the optimization results. The testing results shows that the ride comfort has been improved after tuning.