Multibody dynamics modelling of a 6-axle truck to quantify the effects of pavement and vehicle parameters on dynamic loads

ABSTRACT

The actual service life of the pavement is related to dynamic tire loads. To accurately calculate dynamic loads, a multibody dynamics model of a 6-axle heavy truck was developed. The difference between simulated and experimental RMS values of wheel centre force and acceleration was within 15%. Based on the validated dynamics model, the effects of ride quality index (RQI), vehicle speed, load capacity, and suspension damping coefficient on dynamic impact factor (DI) and dynamic load amplitude (DLA) were explored. When the vehicle was fully loaded, both DI and DLA increased with decreasing RQI, increasing vehicle speed, and increasing suspension damping coefficient. Among them, the effect of RQI and vehicle speed on DLA and DI was much greater than that of suspension damping factor. In addition, the dispersion of DI values for each axle increased as the vehicle mass decreased. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the combined effects of RQI, vehicle speed and load capacity when applying dynamic tire loads in pavement design or life estimation. The procedure in this paper facilitates the accurate calculation of dynamic loads for different pavement and vehicle parameters and is recommended to be used in vehicle-pavement coupled analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Multibody dynamics model
• virtual proving ground
• model validation
• ride quality index
• dynamic load amplitude
• dynamic impact factor

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data available statement

Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China: [Grant Number 52178417]; Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province: [Grant Number 2020-MS-116]; Science Technology Innovation Project from Department of Transportation of Hunan province: [Grant Number 202109].