Mathematical models for motion of the rear ends of vehicles

A new treatment of the path of the rear wheels of single and multiple axle vehicles produces simple first order differential equations for the motion of the rear wheels relative to the front wheels. We show for the first time, under the assumption of no slipping, that the path of the rear wheels depends only on the path of the front wheels and not on the vehicle speed. We examine motion along straight, circular and winding roads, giving closed form solutions in the first two cases. We also provide a straightforward algorithm for computing vehicle offtracking for any road geometry. We believe these results will be of significant benefit to road designers. ∗Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia. E-Mail: [email protected] †Department of Mathematics and Statistics, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia. E-Mail: [email protected]