Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

1999

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Victor Mucino.

Abstract

The point of rollover for a tanker truck carrying fluid cargo is of great importance due to the catastrophic nature of accidents involving such vehicles. Payloads are often toxic or flammable, thus, predicting the threshold of rollover effectively is of great value. Furthermore, the liquid load shift caused by fluid slosh amplifies the propensity of these vehicles to rollover.;This research presents an approach for determining the threshold of rollover stability of a specific tanker truck by using finite element analysis methods, specifically the software program ANSYS. This approach allows the consideration of many variables which had not been fully considered in the past, including nonlinear spring behavior and tank flexibility. The program uses simple mechanical pendulums to simulate the fluid sloshing affects, beam elements to match the torsional and bending stiffness of the tank, and spring damper elements to represent the suspension.;The finite element model of the tanker truck is validated using data taken by the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) on a M916AI tractor/Etnyre model 60PRS 6000 gallon trailer combination. ATC tested the actual tanker truck both statically and dynamically to provide data as inputs for the tanker truck model. The outputs from the computer model and the real truck are shown to corroborate, thus validating the method of analysis. The approach is then expanded to include a double lane change maneuver derived from a cycloidal path.;The main conclusions are drawn in two forms. First, the model is shown to corroborate with the experimental data taken from the actual tanker truck. Secondly, a series of both actual and hypothetical simulations are made to determine the critical velocity for the given maneuver. These are presented for a constant radius turn and for double lane change maneuvers.

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