A Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system is developed and applied tostudy the lateral stability of two vehicle-powered dolly-trailer combinations under various design configurations, tyre properties and braking conditions. The dynamics of the tow vehicle path and the yawangles of each element are expressed as nine first-order non-lineardifferential equations. Stable behaviour is interpreted as the ability to recover straight-line motion without any driver correction, and is quantitatively expressed in terms of the times for the yaw angles to decay to near zero. A stand-alone menu-driven system was developed for personal computer (PC) use. It combines simplified analysis with simulation, and enables a designer to easily alter parametersand view the evolution of yaw angles over time. Results are summarized for nine vehicle-trailer size combinations, each under three braking conditions. (A).
Abstract