Example: Tilt Table Test in TruckSim

Rollover is one of the more serious accident risks in trucking operations. Engineers concerned with truck safety need tools to investigate how to maximize resistance to rollover. A tilt table test is one of the most useful and controlled experimental methods used for this purpose. Over the years tests on tilt tables have contributed much to our understanding of how center of gravity height, track width, and various compliances and lashes affect rollover threshold.

Much of our understanding of the physical mechanisms involved in rollover was developed with the tilt table testing at the University of Michigan TransportationResearch Institute. The figure below illustrates some of the more important mechanisms.

This 3-minute video shows three Performance Based Standards (PBS) examples, including a tilt table. June 2020.

Source: Winkler, C.B., et al.  Rollover of heavy commercial vehicles. Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, 2000, pp. 74. SAE RR-004. ISBN 0-7680-0626-0. Library of Congress: 00-104395

Simulation of a tilt table test offers users of TruckSim a means to perform rollover tests at their desk with the obvious advantages that real trucks and facilities are not required. Furthermore, the simulation process provides access to far more of the physics because all of the calculated variables can be monitored and plotted, making the simulated test a powerful tool for refining and tuning vehicle properties to maximize rollover resistance.

TruckSim users see this capability with examples provided with TruckSim 8.

REFERENCE:
ISO 16333:2004. Road vehicles - Heavy commercial vehicle combinations and articulated buses - Steady-state rollover threshold - Tilt-table test method