Evaluation of Vehicle Dynamics for Single Unit Trucks on Sloped Roadsides and Medians

There is increasing deployment of barriers on sloped surfaces for various reasons. The crashworthiness of barriers is, however, only ascertained for installation on level surfaces. There has been analysis of the vehicle dynamics effects of vehicle-to-barrier interfaces on sloped surfaces, but there have been no reported analyses of the vehicle dynamics of trucks traversing sloped surfaces. In this effort, the dynamics of a standard single unit truck (SUT) on a mild 6:1 sloped surface are evaluated to gain insights into the effect of the truck-to-barrier interface. The analysis addresses both roadside and median conditions. The effects of the vehicle departure angles and speed are investigated. The results are compared to the level surface case and the vehicle dynamics for an 8,000 kg and a 10,000 kg singleunit truck. Working Paper NCAC 2009-W-010 August 2010