Computer aided stability and safety analysis of forklifts

Forklift is a common type of material handling equipment. As a result of carrying various loads at varying speed and in different types of terrains, a forklift is susceptible to tipping over. This paper presents the development of a software to study the effects of loading, wheelbase size, vehicle speed, top-heaviness and inclination on the stability of forklifts. The goal is to bring more insight into the stability of forklifts, and to help improving their future design. The approach taken is to employ the concept of energy stability as a measure to indicate the potential overturning of the vehicle over each edge. A graphic interface is also developed to interactively demonstrate the results. The software package is applied to the stability analysis of a Caterpillar DP-90 forklift. The software is capable of indicating the bounds of many variables/parameters within which the forklift operates safely.