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The influences of fluidic X-coupling of hydro-pneumatic suspension struts on the various suspension properties are investigated for a sport utility vehicle (SUV). The stiffness and damping properties in the bounce, pitch, roll and warp modes are particularly addressed together with the couplings between the roll, pitch, bounce and warp modes of the vehicle. The proposed X-coupled suspension configuration involves diagonal hydraulic couplings among the different chambers of the four hydro-pneumatic struts. The static and dynamic forces developed by the struts of the unconnected and X-coupled suspensions are formulated using a simple generalized model, which are subsequently used to derive the stiffness and damping properties. The properties of the X-coupled suspension are compared with those of the unconnected suspension configuration, in terms of four fundamental vibration modes, namely bounce, roll, pitch and warp, to illustrate the significant effects of fluidic couplings.

The optimal damping design of roll plane interconnected hydro-pneumatic suspension is investigated, in order to improve vertical ride and road-friendliness of heavy vehicles, while maintaining enhanced roll stability. A nonlinear roll plane vehicle model is developed to study vertical as well as roll dynamics of heavy vehicles. The damping valves and gas chamber are integrated within the same suspension strut unit to realize compact design. The influence of variations in damping valve threshold velocity on relative roll stability is explored, under centrifugal acceleration excitations arising from steady turning and lane change maneuvers, as well as crosswind. The effects of damping valve design parameters on the vertical ride vibration and vehicle-road interaction characteristics are also investigated under a medium rough road input and two different vehicle speeds.

Vehicle jackknifing is generally associated with the loss of yaw stability, and is one of the most common cause of serious traffic accidents involving tractor-semitrailer combinations. In this paper, an active braking control strategy is proposed for jackknifing prevention of a tractor-semitrailer combination on a low friction road. The proposed control strategy is realized via upper-level and lower-level control structures considering braking of both the units. In the upper-level control, the required corrective yaw moments for tractor and semitrailer are generated using a PID controller aiming to reduce errors between the actual yaw rates of tractor-semitrailer and the target yaw rates deduced from a reference model. The corrective yaw moments are achieved through brake torque distribution among the tractor and semitrailer axle wheels in the lower-level control.

Suspension kinematic parameters such as camber, caster and king-pin angles as well as track width are important in improving handling performance and stability of a vehicle. Using a new model of the Macpherson suspension system, the effects of different hybrid semi-active control strategies on the performance of suspension kinematic parameters and on improvement of ride quality are investigated. The control strategies considered in this work comprise hybrid skyhook-groundhook, modified skyhook and, passive-skyhook controllers. It is shown that although contribution of these controllers on the improvement of ride quality of the vehicle is similar, they affect the performance of the Macpherson suspension kinematic parameters significantly different. Simulation results are presented and discussed.

Road train vehicles have been applied as one of the common and efficient ways for transportation of goods, specifically hazardous liquid cargos, in different nations. These vehicles have a wide variety of lengths and towing systems such as the fifth wheel or the dolly draw-bar. Based upon specific regulations, they could be authorized to move on specific roads. In order to avoid hazard and danger in case of accidents, safety performance of a B-train vehicle as a specific type of road train vehicles is investigated in this paper. A Multi-Body Dynamic (MBD) model, which consists of a prime mover and two trailers coupled by fifth wheels, are simulated in the initial phase of the study. The developed dynamic model is capable of simulating required tests as well as the SAE lane change, along with a constant radius turn for the purpose of roll and yaw stability analysis and safety evaluation. The effects of variation of the fluid fill level are considered in this research.

Baffles are known to help reduce the amplitude of fluid slosh in partly filled tanks, particularly during braking and acceleration. The transient fluid slosh approach is proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of baffles designs. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) fluid slosh model is developed using the VOF (volume of fluid) technique coupled with a Navier-Stokes solver. The validity of the model is demonstrated using the experimental data acquired with a scale model tank. The validated CFD model is subsequently formulated for a full scale tank and simulations are performed under excitations idealizing the straight-line braking maneuvers to investigate the anti-slosh role of four different transverse baffles concepts. The fluid slosh responses are analyzed in terms of the fundamental slosh frequency, and the resulting forces and moments under different fill volumes of liquid cargos of constant load.

The articulated frame steering (AFS) systems are widely implemented in construction, forestry and mining vehicles to achieve enhanced maneuverability and traction performances. The kinematic and dynamic performances of articulated steered vehicles are strongly influenced by properties of the frame steering system. In this paper, a flow volume regulated frame steering system is described and analytically modelled. The analytical model of the steering system is formulated in conjunction with yaw-plane model of a 35 tonnes mining vehicle to investigate steady as well as transient responses of the steering system and the vehicle. A field test program was undertaken to measure responses of the steering system and the vehicle under nearly constant speed turning as well as path-change maneuvers.

The ride dynamics of typical North-American soil compactors were investigated via analytical and experimental methods. A 12-degrees-of-freedom in-plane ride dynamic model of a single-drum compactor was formulated through integrations of the models of various components such as driver seat, cabin, roller drum and drum isolators, chassis and the tires. The analytical model was formulated for the transit mode of operation at a constant forward speed on undeformable surfaces with the roller vibrator off. Field measurements were conducted to characterize the ride vibration environments during the transit mode of operation. The measured data revealed significant magnitudes of whole-body vibration of the operator-station along the vertical, lateral, pitch and roll-axes. The model results revealed reasonably good agreements with ranges of the measured vibration data.