© Igor Murovanyi, PhD in Engineering, Assoc. Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Transport and Mechanical Engineering, ORCID: 0000-0002-9749-980X, e-mail: igor_lntu@ukr.net, (Lutsk National Technical University);
© Volodymyr Sakhno, Doctor of Technical Science, Professor, Head of Automobiles Department, ORCID: 0000-0002-5144-713, e-mail: sakhno@ntu.edu.ua;
© Victor Poliakov, Ph.D in Engeneering, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Automobiles, ORCID: 0000-0001-7042-3066, e-mail: poljakov_2006@ukr.net;
©Svitlana Sharai, PhD in Engeneering, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of International Transportation and Customs Control, ORCID: 0000-0001-6568-4990, e-mail: svetasharai@gmail.com; © Volodymyr Bosenko, Ph.D in Engeneering,Associate Professor of the Department of Automobiles, ORCID: 0000-0002-9654-949X, e-mail: bosia4ok@ukr.net;
© Oleksii Palamarchyk, Post-Graduate Student of the Department of Automobiles, e-mail: alex-magtrans@ukr.net ORCID: 0009-0003-9782-1015 (National Transport University)
TO DETERMINE THE MOVEMENT STABILITY OF A THREE-LINK TRAILER CONTAINER TRAIN DOI: 10.33868/0365-8392-2025-2-283-69-78
Abstract. In recent years, road trains for container transportation have become widely distributed. The efficiency of container transportation can be increased by using three-link road trains which capable to transported 2 containers, usually – one 20-foot, the second – 40-foot, or four-link road trains which capable to transported two 20-foot and one 40-foot container. In the case of using three-link road trains, the total mass G_ап of the thus road train increases to 60 tons, and of four-link road train – to 100 tons. The work considers a road train consisting of a towing vehicle and two trailers, one of which is three-axle with a front steered axle, and the second is two-axle with tandem-type axles. Based on the selected initial data for the towing vehicle and trailers, the critical speed of the straight-line movement of the road train was 31.75 m/s. In unstable modes, the stability of a road train can be judged by the magnitude of side and angular speed, as well as side acceleration, which are acting at the center of mass of individual links. Side and angular speed qualitatively characterize the stability of individual links of a road train, and the magnitude of side accelerations – quantitatively. When executing the “lane change” maneuver, the limiting factor in terms of stability is the second trailer, whose side and angular speed exceeds by 20% the side speed and by 12.5% the angular speed of the vehicle. When executing the “steering jerk” maneuver, the greatest acceleration occurs for the second trailer, and during the “turn entry” maneuver and with further circular motion, the greatest side accelerations take place for the towing vehicle, to wit it is not possible to obtain a unambiguous answer about the limiting factors for the links of the road train when execution the various maneuvers by him. In addition, when executing the «rearrangement» maneuver at a speed of 10 m/s, the road train fits into the normalized traffic corridor, but at a speed up to 15 m/s, oscillations are already observed that exceed the permissible ones, which indicate about a loss of stability of the road train movement. This must be taken into account when creating and operating multi-link road trains. Keywords: road train, trailer, trailer “dolly”, container, equation, speed, maneuver, acceleration, stability of motion.
References
1. Containers of Ukraine. (2025). Retrieved from https://containers.ua
2. Sakhno, V. P., Kuznetsov, R. M., Murovaniy, I. S., Glinchuk, V. M. (2007). Study of the critical speed of movement of the B-Dauble three-link road train//Project management, system analysis and logistics: Scientific journal, 4, 166-173.
3. Sakhno, V. P., Anglesey, O. A., Bondarenko, A. Yu, Yashchenko, D. M. (2007). Study of the stability of the movement of a three-link trailer train// Bulletin of the East Ukrainian National University named after V. Dahl, 6 (112), 7-10.
4. Sakhno, V. P., Verbytskyi, V. G., Anglesey, O. A., Bondarenko, A. E. (2008). Stability of a three-link semi-trailer truck train with a controlled semi-trailer in curvilinear motion // Bulletin of the East Ukrainian National University named after Volodymyr Dahl. Scientific journal, 7(125), 10-13.
5. Sakhno, V. P., Verbytskyi, V. G., Anglesey, O. A., Bondarenko, A. E. (2008). To determine the indicators of the stability of the movement of a three-link road train with a semi-trailer on a dolly //Autoshlyahovyk Ukrainy. Installment. Bulletin of the Northern Scientific Center of TAU, 11, 140-146.
6. Sakhno, V. P. (2019). To a comparative evaluation of three-link passenger road trains in terms of traffic stability/V. P. Sakhno, I. S. Murovaniy, V. M. Polyakov, E. M. Misko//Modern technologies in engineering and transport. Scientific journal. Lutsk National Technical University, 2(13), 146-155.
7. Marchuk, R., Marchuk, N., Sakhno, V., Poliakov, V. (2021). The Archives of Automotive Engineering. Archiwum Motoryzacji, 91(1):63 DOI:0.14669/AM.VOL91.AR.
8. Sakhno, V. P., Sharay, S. M., Murovany, I. S., Chovcha, I. IN. (2022). To determine the stability of the movement of three-link road trains. Modern technologies in mechanical engineering and transport. Scientific journal. Lutsk, 1(18). 155-166.
9. Sakhno, V., Murovanyi, І., Poliakov, V., Dembitskyi, V. (2022). Issue on Movement Stability of Three Sections Trailer Bus Train // TRANSBALTICA XII: Transportation Science and Technology. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-94774-3_14.
10. Tian, J., Zeng, Q., Wang, P., Wang, X. (2021). Active steering control based on review theory for articulated heavy vehicles DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252098
11. Odhams, A. M. C.; Roebuck, R. L.; Cebon, D.; Winkler, C. B. (2008). Dynamic safety of active trailer steering sys-tems, 222(4), 367–380.
12. Fancher, P., Winkler, C. (2007). Directional perfor-mance issues in evaluation and design of articulated heavy vehicles. Vehicle Syst Dyn. 45(7–8), 607–647.
13. EI-Gindy, M., Mrad, N., Tong, X. (2001). Sensitivity of rearward amplication control of a truck/full trailer to tyre cornering stiffness variations. P I Mech Eng D-J, 215:579–588.
14. Huang, В., Yuan, Z., Peng, D., Wei, X., Wang, Y. (2023). Coordination Control of Active Steering and Di-rect Yaw Control for the Articulated Steering Vehicle/The University of Melbourne, Australia DOI: 10.1155/2023/5577119.
15. Tian, J., Zeng, Q., Wang, P., Wang, X. (2021). Active steering control based on preview theory for articulated heavy vehicles. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252098.
16. Emheisen, M. A. (2018). Active Steering Control of Articulated Heavy Vehicles for Improving Lateral Perfor-mance. Conference: 9th International Automotive Tech-nologies Congress (OTEKON 2018).
17. Emheisen, M. A., Emirler, M. T., Ozkan, B. (2018). Ac-tive Steering Control of Articulated Heavy Vehicles for Improving Lateral Performance https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324862156_
18. Tian, J., Zeng, Q., Wang, P., Wang, X. (2021). Active steering control based on preview theory for articulated heavy vehicles, 16(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252098.
19. Sahin, H., Akalin, O. (2020). Articulated Vehicle Lat-eral Stability Management via Active Rear-Wheel Steering of Tractor Using Fuzzy Logic and Model Predictive Con-trol. SAE International Journal of Commercial Vehicle, 13, 2.
20. Emheisen, М. А., Mümin Tolga Emirler, М. T., Ozkan, B. (2022). Lateral Stability Control of Articulated Heavy Vehicles Based on Active Steering System // International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research 11, 8, 575-582.
21. Yuping, He. (2012). An Automated Design Method for Active Trailer Steering Systems of Articulated Heavy Ve-hicles //J. Mech. Des, 134(4). DOI:10.1115/1.4006047.
22. Odhams, A. M. С., Roebuck, R. L., […], Cebon, D. (2012). Active steering of a tractor–semi-trailer //Proceedings of the Intitution of Mechanical Enginiring, 225, 7. DOI: 10.1177/0954407010395680.