Citation

Azad NL, McPhee J, Khajepour A. Int. J. Veh. Syst. Model. Test. 2006; 1(1,2,3): 106-130.

Affiliation

Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

To investigate the lateral stability of an articulated steer vehicle with a rear-mounted load, a linearised model of a forestry skidder carrying a log is devised. In this model, a torsional spring and damper are used to represent the stiffness and damping in the hydraulic cylinders at the articulation joint. The results show that when the vehicle is carrying a rear-mounted load, the oscillatory instability or snaking may occur at lower vehicle speeds. However, when the torsional spring stiffness or damping at the articulation angle is increased to an appropriate value, the snaking can be removed or delayed to higher speeds. To verify the results from the analysis of the linearised model, the motion of a virtual prototype of the vehicle is simulated in ADAMS/View. The results from the simulations and linear stability analysis are consistent.