Commercial vehicle traffic has been growing faster than that of passenger vehicles in recent years, and this trend is likely to continue in the future. Commercial vehicles and, in particular, articulated heavy vehicles (AHV) have unique physical and performance characteristics compared to the single-unit vehicles. AHVs have complex configurations and large sizes, which results in poor maneuverability at low speeds. On the other hand, AHVs exhibit unstable motion modes at high speeds, including jack-knifing, trailer swing, and rollover. The poor directional performance of commercial vehicles raises concerns about traffic safety and damage to road infrastructure.
In order to increase safety and improve the directional performance of commercial vehicles, over the past three decades valuable performance based guidelines and standards have evolved, and active safety systems including differential braking control and active trailer steering systems have been developed in addition to the driver assist systems being integrated into design processes. The safe operations and directional performance measures of commercial vehicles are dependent on an array of interrelated factors, involving human driver attributes, vehicle designs, operating conditions, and transportation environments. However, the interactions of driver-vehicle-road for commercial vehicle design and development have not been adequately addressed.
Lateral stability of AHVs has long been studied without considering the driver in open-loop dynamic manoeuvers, although the driver may be a destabilising part of the vehicle system. Little attention has been paid to the investigation of commercial vehicle driver attributes. AHV driver behavior is different from that of a single-unit vehicle driver, and an AHV driver’s input is governed mainly by his/her reaction to the tractor’s responses, while the trailer(s) is/are not controlled directly by the driver. In recent years, long combination vehicles (LCVs) with multiple trailers, are increasingly being used on the highways.
Existing highway systems and ramp interchanges, in particular, were mostly designed and constructed based on the dynamic characteristics of single-unit vehicles and AHVs with a tractor and one trailer combinations. LCVs thus pose greater safety concerns. Proportionately higher incidents involving LCVs may be partially attributed to the geometric features of existing highway ramps and interchanges. To reduce the hazards associated with commercial vehicles, multidisciplinary investigations into, for example, human driver attributes, active safety systems, driver assist systems, and driver-adaptive vehicle designs, will lead to promising solutions.
This special issue is intended to present new and original research on commercial vehicle safety and performance.
Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Fault-tolerant and fail-safe designs
- Application of wireless network control systems
- Operating state monitoring and driver warning systems
- Driver-hardware/software-in-the-loop real-time simulations
- Crashworthiness/crash prevention and early warning systems
- System performance cascading to subsystems and components
- Safety/performance measures, requirements, assessments, and analyses
- State-of-the-art reviews on safety/performance measures, limitations, assessment methods, guidelines and standards
- Safety/performance - measurement methods, instrumentation and analysis methods
- Commercial vehicle handling, roll stability, directional control and guidance
- Active/passive safety systems
- Interactions of driver-vehicle-road
- Multidisciplinary design optimisation of commercial vehicle safety systems considering the interactions of driver-vehicle-road
- Driver-adaptive commercial vehicle designs
- Driver assistance systems
- Directional dynamics of commercial vehicles
- Commercial vehicle driver performance, behaviour and modelling
- Biodynamic/biomechanical modelling of driver and applications to commercial vehicle safety design
- Multi-body system modelling techniques for commercial vehicle directional dynamics
- Control parameters in vehicle safety and performance
Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 August, 2014
Reviewers' reports and decision: 30 November, 2014
Final versions due: 31 January, 2015
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