Vibration Frequencies and Vertical Acceleration Levels Assessment on a Truck Trailer Chassis Considering Various Types of Pavement and Load Conditions

This paper presents several tests carried out on a truck trailer on different types of pavement and load condition, using proving ground tracks and facilities, the instrumentation details, data analysis and validation. Through an extensive analysis of Brazilian goods road transport, a load vehicle combination and a list of test pavements were chosen as off-road pavement, highway pavement, pot holes, washboard, cobblestones and Belgian blocks. Accelerometers were installed throughout the truck trailer chassis longitudinal length in order to obtain the acceleration levels and vibration frequencies on the truck trailer sprung mass. Aiming to evaluate the base excitation imposed to parts mounted to the truck trailers chassis, according to their mounting position, data processing method and cutoff frequency definition strategies were defined. After the results analysis and chassis acceleration level verification, power spectral densities were generated for each instrumented point of each test track and load condition to compare the truck trailer application requirements considering energy levels and most relevant frequencies. The main objective of this paper consists in the vertical vibration characterization which truck trailer components are subjected to, according to pavement type, load condition and longitudinal mounting position on a truck trailer chassis structure enabling a component differentiation for distinct applications even in the concept stage, designing more properly, reducing development costs and time. Furthermore, a test information database could be created to be used in a new laboratory test device in the future, capable to perform durability tests in a more accurate way regarding to the real application.