DRIVER-VEHICLE CONTROL AND PERFORMANCE IN THE PRESENCE OF AERODYNAMIC DISTURBANCES FROM LARGE VEHICLES

The airflow around a large truck or bus on the highway can disturb an adjacent automobile and degrade its performance under certain conditions. Procedures for investigating the effects of such disturbances on driver-vehicle systems have been developed. Equations of motion define the lateral-directional dynamics of the vehicle, and multiloop describing functions model the driver's steering response to perceptual cues. The aerodynamic forces and moments can be determined from scale model experiments. The analytical and experimental results show that the following factors can have an influence on driver-vehicle performance in such situations: vehicle handling and aerodynamic properties, driver skill and alertness, ambient wind, configuration and shape of large vehicles, vehicle separation and clearance, and vehicle speeds and relative speeds. In some cases, the diturbance can be large enough to cause the automobile to exceed nominal lane boundaries, despite corrective driver steering control. Investigations showed no important effects on the performance of nominal driver-vehicle systems due solely to the small change in disturbance caused by increasing bus or truck width from 96 to 102 in. (244 to 259 cm). Driver-vehicle performance in disturbance situations can be improved in the following general ways: change vehicle shapes to reduce disturbance sensitivity, increase separation between vehicles, increase relative speed of the overtaking car, reduce large vehicle speed, geometry and structures to minimize ambient crosswinds.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1974/520/520-001.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=DRIVER-VEHICLE+CONTROL+AND+PERFORMANCE+IN+THE+PRESENCE+OF+AERODYNAMIC+DISTURBANCES+FROM+LARGE+VEHICLES&author=D.+Weir&author=R.+Hoh&author=G.+Teper&publication_year=1974
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Road User Characteristics. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Weir, David H
  • Hoh, Roger H
  • Teper, Gary L
• Conference:
  • 53rd Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1974-1-21 to 1974-1-25
• Publication Date: 1974

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos;
• Pagination: pp 1-12
• Monograph Title: Driver performance
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 520
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aerodynamics; Air; Automated vehicle control; Automobile drivers; Buses; Driver performance; Drivers; Equations; Flow; Heavy vehicles; Mathematical models; Personnel performance; Reaction time; Speed; Steering; Trucks; Vehicle dynamics; Wind
• Uncontrolled Terms: Air flow; Driver reaction; Models
• Old TRIS Terms: Disturbances
• Subject Areas: Highways; Motor Carriers; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00095724
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309023653
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 2 1975 12:00AM