Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference Proceedings, 2003, Sydney

This paper presents the findings from simulation studies of the behaviour of both capillary and orifice controlled heavy vehicle air suspensions. In this simulation the behaviour of bogie and tri axle groups subject to a bump at highway speed is examined. Some particular air-suspended heavy vehicle dynamic roll characteristics are then briefly discussed. This paper reveals that current air suspension designs with capillary transmission lines are not only “road unfriendly” but also dangerous if their dynamic behaviour is considered. Furthermore existing truck trajectory computer simulation packages cannot predict the characteristics of air-suspended heavy vehicles so generating totally wrong simulation results.