Citation

Vazquez-Vega D, Rakheja S, Ahmed AKW, Lozano-Guzman A. Heavy Vehicle Syst. 2001; 8(2): 155-176.

Affiliation

Mexican Institute of Transportation, Queretaro, C.P. 76000, Mexico

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An A-dolly with externally mounted dampers is proposed to enhance the yaw and lateral directional performance of an A-train double. A kinematic analysis of the external dampers is performed to derive damping forces and moments imposed on the coupled A-dolly and the first semitrailer of the combination. The resulting kinematic model of the external dampers is integrated within the nonlinear yaw-plane model of the A-train to study the performance potentials of the dampers. The directional response characteristics of the combination are evaluated under closed-loop path-change and double path-change manoeuvres, in conjunction with a path-follower driver-vehicle model based upon preview/predictive strategy. An analytical function based on the Magic Formula is further proposed to describe the path co-ordinates for the closed-loop manoeuvres. The results of the study show that damped articulation integrated between the first semitrailer and the A-dolly offers considerable potential for enhancement of the directional performance of the vehicle combination in terms of peak lateral acceleration, yaw rate, and rearward amplification.

Language: en