The influence of weight distribution on the handling characteristics of intercity bus under steady state vehicle cornering condition

Abstract

The vehicle cornering behavior is an important performance in handling stability especially for the intercity bus. Accordingly, one of the significant parameters concerns the weight distribution which is affected by the center of gravity (CG). In this paper, the effect of weight distribution while varying the turning radius is compared and it should be expressed, and interpreted by understeer gradient which is influenced by the location of CG. The characteristic of intercity bus was modeled and evaluated using the multi-body dynamic analysis software. The analysis has been conducted under steady state cornering based on a total of three configurations, with front/rear axle weight in percent, as 40/60, 45/55, and 50/50.The results stated that the magnitude of weight distribution on front axle of bus in a range of 40% to 50% caused the incremental value of understeer gradient and it was also increased as three times in each turning radius since the difference lateral slip angles between front and rear are expanded.