Modelling of stable angle-based instability threat indicator for articulated off-road vehicles

This paper presents the modelling and simulation of a stable angle-based instability threat indicator for articulated off-road vehicles. First, a stable angle is represented by the vertical forces of four wheels and steering angle of an off-road articulated steer vehicle. Then a vehicle prototype model is built based on a specific wheel loader type and a tyre/terrain model. Finally, the prototype model and tyre/terrain model are imported to the multi-body dynamics analysis software-ADAMS to conduct a number of simulations using the stable angle-based instability threat indicator. Simulation results indicate that a stable angle of 80.5° is the threshold angle for lateral instability, and a stable angle of 90° is the threshold angle for longitudinal instability of this model. Compared with the traditional instability indicating methods for off-road vehicles, the proposed stable angle-based method is more efficient and can deal with both lateral and longitudinal instability of an articulated vehicle effectively. Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.