Effects of wind loads and floating bridge motion on intercity bus lateral stability
Journal article, 2021

Efficient transportation is an important factor for regional socio-economic growth. Excitations from wind loads and road motions can influence vehicle-driver behaviour in a way that may impair transportation. This is especially true in open areas such as long-span bridges. This paper investigates the influence of wind loads and floating bridge motions on bus lateral stability for the straight concept solution across Bjørnafjorden in Norway. For this
investigation, an 8-degree-of-freedom model of a two-axle coach is used. The defined driver model is based on the pure pursuit path tracking method. The vehicle deviation from the path is found to increase with increasing bus speed. This deviation is significant after the vehicle enters the bridge (e.g., over 0.5 m for a speed of 90 km/h). At 108 km/h, the windward rear wheel loses contact, indicating the potential risk of vehicle roll-over. The mean and
root-mean-square values of the handwheel steering angle increase with increasing speed, which might cause difficulty for the driver to control the vehicle. Simulation results suggest that the bus can suitably enter the bridge at a lower speed (e.g., 72 km/h) with the possibility of increasing the speed (up to 90 km/h) after approximately 2 km of travelled distance.

Vehicle safety

Lateral stability

Floating bridge

Bus

Vehicle modelling

Wind loads

Author

Dragan Sekulic

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems

Alexey Vdovin

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems

Bengt J H Jacobson

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems

Simone Sebben

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems

Stian Johannesen Moe

Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA)

Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics

0167-6105 (ISSN)

Vol. 212 104589

Driving Comfort and Tracking Ability of Vehicles on Floating Bridges Moving due to Wind and Water Disturbances

Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), 2020-08-20 -- 2022-08-31.

Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), 2018-08-20 -- 2022-08-31.

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics

DOI

10.1016/j.jweia.2021.104589

More information

Latest update

4/1/2021 9