Trucks with road friendly suspension (RFS) but with ineffective shock absorbers can damage the roads more than trucks with steel suspensions. This paper outlines low-cost test procedures and analysis methods for determining the road-friendliness of heavy vehicle suspensions. It is suggested that, by using the simple process of driving over a 50 mm pipe and analysing the data provided by the on-board mass measurement system, the damping ratio may be determined by simple calculation. Further, by driving an instrumented semi-trailer around the block, we can tell if its suspension has the correct natural frequency. The testing used a newly constructed, 34 tonne four-axle semi-trailer with on-board mass transducers. Using on-board mass management systems provides the opportunity for determining the health of road-friendly suspensions without the expense and inconvenience of taking the truck off the road for testing. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E211825.
Abstract