Handling performance of tractor-semitrailers equipped with hydraulically interconnected suspension

This paper focuses on the contribution of a hydraulically interconnected suspension on the handling performance of a tractor-semitrailer. A hydraulically interconnected suspension model is integrated with a traditional tractor-semitrailer suspension for the purpose of study, and the hydraulically interconnected suspension system is first investigated through the bench test simulation to study its nonlinear and damping characteristic. Then a static rollover test, a steady-state circular test, a pulse steer input test, a pulse road input test and a random road input test are simulated in order to fully investigate the performance of a tractor-semitrailer with hydraulically interconnected suspension. The comparison analyses are conducted among two vehicles which are a fully loaded tractor-semitrailer without hydraulically interconnected suspension, an unloaded tractor-semitrailer without hydraulically interconnected suspension, a fully loaded tractor-semitrailer with hydraulically interconnected suspension and an unloaded tractor-semitrailer with hydraulically interconnected suspension. The obtained results show that the fully loaded tractor-semitrailer has enhanced handling performance, an improved steady-state rollover threshold and unchanged ride performance with the assistance of hydraulically interconnected suspension.