THE TENDENCY OF A TALL BUS TO ROLLOVER WHEN FULLY LOADED WITH PASSENGERS

SHERLYN GOO KHAR SHING, TEE SHU SHING AND ERIC TAN BOON KIAT SMK MUNSHI ABDULLAH, 75350 BATU BERENDAM, MELAKA

Abstract
The stability of a vehicle on the road are affected by several factors; among them are speed, mass, centre of gravity, seat belts, conditions of its tyres, driving attitudes and road nature. In the case of centre of gravity, it varies significantly with the number of passengers on board. The fatality of accident of large vehicles like the bus due to rollover is much severe than other types of accident. The direct factor of rollover is the height of the centre of gravity. The study uses a wooden block with its ratio of width to height roughly corresponds to that of a tall bus. The added mass represents the passengers on board. The block is being tilted laterally till it reaches an angle that it topples over. Bigger angle for topple over resembles a better stability.

INTRODUCTION Theory
A parameter called the Static Stability actor !SSF" is assigned to each vehicle. It is defined as one#half the track width divided by the height of the center of gravity. It is called $static$ because SSF is essentially the tangent of the slope angle for a vehicle to %ust roll over while sitting on the slope.

t tan = 2 h
t/2 tan = h t 2h

In a real situation a vehicle is usually moving when it rolls over, not standing
mg

still on a slope. &e consider two types of ideali'ed moving rollover situations( A vehicle is moving !sliding" sideways and the wheels strike a solid obstacle that provides a pivot point for a possible rollover. )ollover occurs when the ensuing rotation causes the force of gravity vector to pass through the pivot point. This can be e*uivalent to the static case. The second situation, vehicle is moving, without slipping, around a hori'ontal circular curve at a constant speed high enough to %ust cause rollover. )ollover occurs when the force of gravity vector passes through the pivot point.
a < tan g v2 < tan rg

mg

It should be emphasi'ed that the effects of suspension movement, tire movement or electronic+mechanical stability control may be very important in the

rollover tendency for a vehicle. Suspension and tire movements would likely increase the tendency for rollovers, while electronic+mechanical stability control is designed to make it less likely that a vehicle

,IT-)AT.)- )-/I-& )ollover accidents are also very common and fre*uent in 0alaysia. In most of the rollover accidents of buses, its roof faces strong impact with the surface of road. 1owever, this impact leads to collapse of bus roof causing severe in%ury to the occupants and e2treme damage to the frame of bus. 3ational 1ighway Traffic Safety Administration !31TSA, 4554 b", .SA, reported that only about 67 of all crashes are rollovers that caused 667 of total crash related deaths. This e2ample clearly showed the severity of rollover crashes compared to other types of crashes. )ollover may be of different types depending on the reasons that commence it. The definitions include the following factors( !i" Trip#over( If the lateral motion of the vehicle is suddenly slowed or stopped, it increases the tendency to rollover of bus. The opposing force may be produced by a curb, pot#hole or pavement in which the bus wheels dig into.

igure 8.8( Trip over of a vehicle on road surface.

!ii" all#over( This type of rollover occurs when the road surface, on which the bus is traveling, slopes downward in the direction of movement of the vehicle such that the center of gravity !c. g." becomes outboard of its wheels !the distinction between this code and turn#over is a negative slope".

igure 8.4( all over of vehicle out of road !iii" lip#over( &hen a vehicle is rotated along its longitudinal a2is by a ramp#like ob%ect such as a turned down guardrail or the back slope of a ditch. The vehicle may be in yaw when it comes in contact with a ramp#like ob%ect

!"#re $%3& '!( o)er o* )eh!+'e o, ro-. /#r*-+e% !iv" Bounce#over( &hen a vehicle rebounds off a fi2ed ob%ect and overturns as a conse*uence. The rollover must occur in close pro2imity to the ob%ect from which it is deflected.

igure 8.9( Bounce over of vehicle after facing impact sidewise. !v" Turn#over( &hen centrifugal forces from a sharp turn or vehicle rotation is resisted by normal surface friction !most common for vehicle with higher distance between road surface and c. g.". The surface includes pavement surface and gravel, grass, dirt, etc. There is no furrowing and gouging at the point of impact. If rotation and+or surface friction causes a trip, the rollover is classified as a turn#over.

igure 8.:( Turn over motion of vehicle. &hite, ;. 0. <4= worked on the rollover accident simulation program !)AS>" developed to study design factors which affect rollover stability. The main parameter investigated were spring stiffness, height of ?@ and roll movement of inertia. The height of ?@ was the most critical factor affecting rollover harms. So many researches have been carried out on rollover of different vehicles. Some of those researches are briefly cited in this section. Aecman, ;., and Tidbury, @. 1. <8= presented a pioneer research on how to calculate different parameters for the certification of rollover related issues which was accepted as a base of -?-

)egulation BB. The authors concluded that, finite element analysis is a cost effective way of describing bus structures to comply with the new bus structure strength in rollover re*uirements. &hite, ;. 0. <4= worked on the rollover accident simulation program !)AS>" developed to study design factors which affect rollover stability. The main parameter investigated were spring stiffness, height of ?@ and roll movement of inertia. The height of ?@ was the most critical factor affecting rollover harms. Aumagai et al., <6= simulated a bus using full -A program. The result of full scale dynamic rollover test of a complete bus to A;) :C or -?- BB were used to verify the predictions of a model based on the dynamic testing of some critical structural components. A good agreement was shown between the test and the analysis techni*ue. The same work was done by 3iii, 3., and 3akagawa, A <9= later on in 8CCB. Aecman, ;., and ;utton, A.D. <:= described the development of a seat to meet both the -?- E5 )egualtion !for unbelted occupants" and the A;) BE !for belted occupants", which is still commercially feasible in terms of weight and cost. Initial components were tested and combined with an analytical study using 0A;F0G and ?)AS1#; to optimi'e the design of a new seat. )asenack et al. <B= presented a survey of bus collision between 8CE:#8CC6 in @ermany. -ight of the collisions were rollovers accounting for :5.4 7 of all severe in%uries and C5 7 of all fatalities. /inc'e#>ap, S. <H= reviewed the e2perience of IAA).S ?ompany, a 1ungarian bus manufacturer, in the development of test specifications for coach rollover safety. The paper continued with a comparison of the four different test methods in the -?- BB )egulation accepted for type approval of buses and coaches. The effects of occupantIs impact with roof, windshield, interior and pillars were analy'ed in their study. )oper, ,. ;avid <E= studied the effect of lateral speed,

height of the center of gravity and different types of road surfaces numerically in his detailed work to investigate the reasons of rollover that helps to initiate rollover. errer, I., and 0iguel, D. ,., A <C= presented a repot on the reasons of fatalities during rollover accidents of high speed buses. )esearch concluded that, most of the fatalities were caused due to e%ection of passengers from bus and impact with bus interior.

>)GB,-0 STAT-0-3T The chances of a bus rollover increases significantly when fully loaded with passengers. A fully loaded bus might have a higher of center of gravity and hence reduce the angle of lateral tilting for rollover to occur. The centre of gravity changes with the number of passengers on board. The e2periment studied e2tend in which the tilting angle changes with the mass added to the top of the wooden block. GBD-?TI/The main ob%ective is to study how the number of passengers varies the centre of gravity of tall vehicle. In the e2periment, it is how the added mass on the upper surface of a narrow wooden block varies the angle of toppling. METHODOLOGY 0odel of a wooden block is used to represent a tall bus resting on a slope in static condition. The actual bus has dimensions about 89.: feet high, E feet wide and 65 feet long. The actual height to be considered is the height of the centre of gravity !about half of the physical height of the bus". Then, the height and width will roughly form a s*uare. The block that has a s*uare cross section was chosen to represent the bus. The block used has dimensions :J wide, :J tall and 8E.H:J long. The bus

has typical mass about 89,:55 kg and a passenger about H5 kg which is about 5.: 7 of the mass of the bus. or the model, the wooden block has mass of B8: g, the added mass that representing a passenger is 6.5 g !:7 of B8: g".The wooden block is placed with its lateral side perpendicular to the slope of greatest gradient. The lower side of the base is taped to the platform to prevent sliding when the platform is lifted for the angle of topple.

Tilt mechanically Slotted weight

&ooden block

>latform OBSERVATION AND RESULT 0ass of the slotted weight+g 5 8: 65 9: B5 H: C5 85: 845

Ce''o(h-,e 0-(e

Angle of topple !degree" 68 4E 4B 49 44 48 8C 8H 8B

0ass of 6.5 g is e*uivalent to mass of a passenger in this case and 8:g mass represents : passengers. The angle of toppling decreases linearly as the added

mass increases. The changes of the angle of topple over is not significant enough if the added mass is not substantial.
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30

25

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;iscussion The variation of the height of centre of gravity with the number of passengers for tall vehicle like bus, van and S./ is *uite significant. It is not uncommon for these vehicles to be overloaded with passengers in our country. The angle of topple must have reached the critical level. It becomes the main contributing factor of rollover accidence. atality and chances of rollover accident not only depends on the centre

of gravity but factors like nature of road surface, speed, tyres and strength of the chassis, seat belt and etceteras. The speed limit while negotiating a corner can become vital factor. It depends also on the height of the centre of gravity, radius of the curve and the coefficient of static friction between the tyres and the road. The

e2act study in this area has to involve real situation, instead of using model in this report. 0ay be a computer simulation with the necessary parameters can provide a good mean. &ith this information, perhaps we can suggest an appropriate ma2imum height to base ratio for a vehicle and the speed limit for each road curve based on its radius of curvature. ?onclusion rom the e2periment, it is found that as the number of passenger increases, the angle of toppling decreases. &hen it is fully loaded with 95 passengers !represents by 845 g slotted weight", the toppling angle reduced from 65 o to 8:o. It is twice the possibility of rollover as compare to no passengers on board. The study may %ust be on the static condition but tilting situation may due to uneven road, pot holes, obstacles, hump and so on. Then, the angle of toppling will be even smaller. Tall bus or vehicle is suitable on level road and pose high risk on hilly, undulating and uneven surfaces. It is suggested that it be suitable on not hilly highway or in the urban areas.

)eferences and Bibliography 1. Kecman, D., and Tidbury, G.H., Optimisation of a Bus Superstructure from the Ro o!er Safety "oint of #ie$. Tenth Intenational technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles, O%ford, &n' and, 1()*. 2. +hite, D.,., ".S.#. Ro o!er Stabi ity. Tenth International Technical Conference on Expemental Safety Vehicles, O%ford, &n' and, 1()*. -. Kuma'ai, K., Kabeshita, .., &nomoto, H., and Shimo/ima, S., 0n ana ysis ,ethod for Ro o!er Stren'th of Bus Structures, Fourteenth International technical Conference on Enchanced Safety of Vehcles, ,unich, Germany, 1((1.

1. 2iii, 2., and 2a3a'a$a, K., Ro o!er ana ysis ,ethod of a 4ar'e5Sei6ed Bus. Fifteenth International technical Conference on the Enhaced Safety of Vehicles, ,e bourn, 0ustra ia, 1((7. *. Kecman, D., and Dutton, 0.8., De!e opment and Testin' of the 9ni!ersity :oach safety Seat. Fifteenth Intenatianl Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, ,e bourn, 0ustra ia, 1((7. 7. Rasenac3, +., 0ppe , H., Rau, H., and Rieta, :., Best systems in "assen'er :oaches. Fifteenth International Technical conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, ,e bourne, 0ustra ia, 1((7. ;. #inc6e5"ap,S. &uropean Test ,ethods for Super Structures of Buses and :oaches Re ated to &:& R 77 <The 0pp ied Hun'arian :a cu ation ,ethod=. Sixteenth International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, +indsor, :anada, 1((). ). Roper, 4. Da!id, "hysics of 0utomobi e Ro o!ers, 2>>1. (. ?errer, @., and ,i'ue , 8.4., 0ssesment of the 9se of Seat Be ts in Busses Based on Recent Road Traffic 0ccidents in Spain. Seventeenth Intenatioanl Technical Conference on the enhanced Safety of Vehicles, 0msterdam, the 2ether ands, 2>>1.