Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Lateral Dynamics Of Multiple Trailer Trucks In Windy Environments, David Wafer

All Theses

The lateral response of three-trailer commercial vehicles has been assessed using the simulation package TruckSim^TM. Aerodynamic and mechanical characterizations for the vehicle were developed for this investigation. Simulations were carried out with various aerodynamic and load configurations with several different arbitrarily defined crosswinds. The aerodynamic configurations were tested in constant and random crosswinds. The load configurations were tested only in random crosswinds. Each aerodynamic configuration differed by the aerodynamic side-force coefficient for the trailers. Each load configuration consisted of reducing the payload in a single trailer. The tractor was identically defined for each load and aerodynamic configuration. Increasing …