Risk Assessment of Road Vehicles Under Wind Gust Excitation

Abstract

Crosswind stability of vehicles has attracted a lot of attention in the past years. Accidents caused by strong crosswind occupy a relatively small proportion. However, they may have unproportionally large contribution to serious and fatal injuries. In order to assess the crosswind stability of road vehicles in a more realistic way, risk analysis for road vehicles running under realistic wind excitation has to be considered. This paper summarizes the method for risk analysis of crosswind stability of road vehicles. A nonstationary model for the wind forces and moments acting on a running vehicle is presented and analyzed in detail. In addition, guidelines for speed limitations or traffic restrictions are developed. Based on the risk analysis, a practical method to determine the critical mean wind speeds for a wind warning system is proposed.