Citation

Capps G, Franzese O, Knee H, Blau P, Massimini JM, Petrolino J, Rice DC. Accid. Reconstr. J. 2010; 20(4): 31-34.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Accident Reconstruction Journal)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines heavy truck original equipment and aftermarket brake performance, reporting on a study commissioned by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). The study was designed to provide objective test data from test-track and field testing to refine the NHTSA's experience base on stopping distances for Single Unit Trucks (SUT, notably Class-7 Single-Axle dump truck, Class-8); and to investigate the use of aftermarket (AM) versus original equipment (OE) brake linings for these vehicles. The study include test-track, laboratory tests, and real world field tests and covered five domains: SSBT (SubScale Brake Testing) in which brake material performance and wear was compared over several scales of friction; Chase Tests, in which brake material performance and wear was compared over several scales of friction; stopping performance under controlled conditions; straight-line stopping performance; and wear field testing, in which the brake materials on the test vehicles were monitored for total wear. Deceleration rates were used to perform statistical tests and to measure whether trucks with OE brake linings performed better than those fitted with AM brake linings. Results showed that the OE brake linings provided, on the average, higher deceleration rates than the AM brake linings in the Class-7 SUT. Similar results were obtained for the WC Class-8 Tandem-Axle vehicles. However, the Class-8 Tri-Axle tests showed reverse results; the AM brake linings produced higher deceleration rates than OE brake linings. The authors caution that this latter class of trucks really is a hybrid configuration with two axles mounted with OE brake linings and the drop axle mounted with AM brake linings.