Steady Turning Stability of Partially Filled Tank Vehicles With Arbitrary Tank Geometry

Abstract

Steady turning model of a partially filled tank vehicle is developed by integrating the roll plane model of the partially filled arbitrarily shaped tank with the static roll plane model of an articulated vehicle. The rollover immunity of the tank vehicle is investigated through computer simulation. The motion of the free surface of liquid and the associated load shift encountered during steady turning are computed using an iterative algorithm. The influence of tank geometry and liquid fill level on the rollover immunity of the tank vehicles is presented. Rollover threshold levels of a tractor-semitrailer vehicle with tanks of circular, modified square and modified oval cross sections are investigated for various fill levels. The influence of compartmenting of the tank on the steady turning response of the vehicle is presented and an optimal order of unloading the various compartments is determined. The study concludes that load shift encountered during steady turning has an adverse effect on the overturning limits of the articulated liquid tank vehicles. The stability of such tank vehicles may be further affected by the dynamic fluid-structure interactions, vehicle transients and driver’s reaction.