Improving the Lateral Stability of Road Vehicles Using Ladder Chassis Equipped with Linear Wave Springs

This paper introduces a new configuration of ladder chassis containing a set of linear wave springs to improve the lateral stability of road vehicles. The governing equations for lateral stability of the ladder frame equipped with linear wave springs were derived. In order to investigate this new system a unit base of the ladder frame equipped with linear wave springs and a typical ladder frame were modeled using FEM methods (ABAQUS) with the same size conditions. This comparative study is utilized to validate the derived equations and also to compare the effectiveness of the new designed system with typical ladder frames. Results indicate that the new system has considerably improved the lateral stability of the vehicle during road transportation and also noticeably decreased the stress on the side and cross members.