Risk Assessment of Road Vehicles Under Wind Gust Excitation

Crosswind stability of vehicles has attracted a lot of attention in the past years. Accidents caused by strong crosswind occupy a relatively small proportion. However, they may have unproportionally large contribution to serious and fatal injuries. In order to assess the crosswind stability of road vehicles in a more realistic way, risk analysis for road vehicles running under realistic wind excitation has to be considered. This paper summarizes the method for risk analysis of crosswind stability of road vehicles. A nonstationary model for the wind forces and moments acting on a running vehicle is presented and analyzed in detail. In addition, guidelines for speed limitations or traffic restrictions are developed. Based on the risk analysis, a practical method to determine the critical mean wind speeds for a wind warning system is proposed.

Numerical Investigation on Handling Stability of a Heavy Tractor Semi-Trailer under Crosswind

Due to the large lateral area of the trailer and variable road conditions, the handling stability of a heavy tractor semi-trailer under crosswind is very important for road safety. In this present work, numerical simulation is performed to study the crosswind effects on handling stability of a tractor semi-trailer. The aerodynamic characteristics of the tractor semi-trailer under different crosswind were computed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Then, mathematical models to reveal the relationship between the aerodynamic forces and crosswind were constructed to serve as inputs of the multi-body dynamics to analyze the handling stability under crosswind. The performance of crosswind stability is evaluated by the response of lateral acceleration, yaw rate and the lateral displacement. The lateral acceleration and yaw rate were decreased by a maximum of 14.6% and 16.5% compared to the truck without the deflector, which showed that the crosswind aerodynamics and stability were obviously improved.

Coupled analysis of vehicle stability in crosswind on low adhesion road

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a two-way coupling approach for investigating the aerodynamic stability of vehicles under the combined effect of crosswind and road adhesion. Design/methodology/approach The author develops a new two-way coupling approach, which couples large eddy simulation with multi-body dynamics (MBD), to investigate the crosswind stability on three different adhesion roads: ideal road, dry road and wet road. The comparison of the results obtained using the traditional one-way coupling approach and the new two-way coupling approach is also done to assess the necessity to use the proposed coupling technique on low adhesion roads, and the combined effect of crosswind and road adhesion on vehicle stability is analyzed. Findings The results suggest that the lower the road adhesion is, the larger deviation a vehicle generates, the more necessary to conduct the two-way coupling simulation. The combined effect of the crosswind and road adhesion can decrease a vehicle’s lateral motion on a high adhesion road after the disappearing of the crosswind. But on a low adhesion road, the vehicle tends to be unstable for its large head wind angle. The vehicle stability in crosswind on a low adhesion road needs more attention, and the investigation should consider the coupling of aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics and the combined effect of crosswind and road adhesion. Originality/value Developing a new two-way coupling approach which can capture the complex vehicle structures and the road adhesion with MBD model and the completed fluid filed structure with CFD model. The present study might be the first study considering the coupling of crosswind and low adhesion road. The proposed two-way coupling approach will be useful for researchers who study vehicle crosswind stability.