The permits department of the california department of transportation is often asked to issue permits for the movement of unusual vehicle configurations. It then becomes necessary to evaluate the damge these configurations cause. The shaking table of the earthquake engineering research center at the richmond field station was used toinvestigate and compare some aspects of the dynamic behavior of a new super-heavy haul vehicle trailer (jxs), equipped with an hydraulic cylinder-nitrogen suspension, with those of four other, currently used, semitrailer types. Based on the data obtained during the testsconducted on the shaking table improvements on the jxs suspension were made, and it can be concluded that levels of the dynamic component of the loads, induced by the jxs at normal highway operations, are within the same range of manitude as those produced by the other trailers studied. The results also suggest that the difference in performance between trailers equipped with leaf-spring suspensions andtrailers equipped with air bag suspensions is greater than the difference between tridem trailers and tandem trailers equipped with airbags. From a dynamic point of view, the effect of suspension type appears to be more significant than the number of axles. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1286, Design and evaluation of rigid and flexible pavements 1990.
Abstract