Advisory Committee Chair
Nasim Uddin
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2021
Degree Name by School
Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE) School of Engineering
Abstract
In the present study, the stability of utility trucks under strong wind conditions is analyzed. Since the lateral area of trucks is larger than that of ordinary vehicles, the impact of crosswind on trucks is the most serious. Therefore, the main consideration was to simulate the impact of crosswind conditions on the truck. The research direction of crosswinds affecting the performance of utility trucks can be divided into two major aspects: one is to consider crosswind aerodynamics, and the other is to test crosswind stability. In order to study the crosswind aerodynamics of the truck, the influence of the change of the inflow angle of the crosswind on the aerodynamic characteristics was discussed. The expression of the aerodynamic coefficient was obtained by changing the angle of inflow air. In order to accurately evaluate the driving stability in windy weather, the conditions of different winds and 70 mph vehicle speed were used as the simulation environment. LS-DYNA software was used to perform CFD simulations on the truck model and the degree of freedom constraints and loads were applied to the solid model. According to the simulation of different wind speed levels, simulation calculations were carried out for different situations, and various output charts of the resultant force and displacement were obtained. In order to evaluate the performance of cross-wind stability, the lateral acceleration, lateral displacement, and yaw rate were dynamically simulated by the software for evaluation. The impact of wind speed changes on truck stability were judged through trend graphs. Comparing aerodynamic characteristics and dynamic simulation results can verify its accuracy.
Recommended Citation
Zhu, Haibo, "Aerodynamic Analysis Of Utility Truck Safety In Severe Environments" (2021). All ETDs from UAB. 725.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/725