University Transportation Center - Completed Projects
U01: Enhanced Finite Element Analysis Crash Model of Tractor-Trailers (Phase A)
Most of the barriers used on US Highways to mitigate the effect of run off road incidents were designed for use with passenger vehicles and not heavy vehicles. The objective of this project is to develop and enhance the computer models of a heavy vehicle (tractor trailer combination vehicle) that will be used in finite element design, analysis and evaluation of roadside infrastructure hardware more..
U02: Heavy Vehicle Rollover Characterization (Phase A)
This project will increase the understanding of the interactions of vehicle load, tires, suspensions, vehicle types, vehicle stiffness (tractor and trailer), and roadway surfaces/tire interface on truck rollover events can contribute significantly to improving heavy truck safety. Such understanding can be applied to support the design and evaluation of new technologies such as wider axles, wider single tires, adaptive suspension systems, rollover warning systems, etc. It can also contribute to improving roadway design to minimize the potential for truck rollover stemming from vehicle-highway interactions, and can contribute to more effective regulation aimed at reducing truck rollovers more...
U03: License Plate Recognition (Phase A)
This project will demonstrate the use of technology to enhance heavy vehicle monitoring and profiling to improve safety. The first objective is to test and implement a mobile heavy vehicle profiling technology to spot speeding, stolen, suspicious and substandard trucks at strategic locations. The second objective is to demonstrate a deployment scheme of the system without overtaxing local authorities more..
U04: Marine Containers on Chassis: Safety Issues
This project is to investigate safety related problems involving chassis used for transporting marine containers on US highways. In recent years, much concern has arisen regarding the safety implications of allegedly substandard container chassis maintenance and inspection practices. This recognition is reflected in the recent effort to pass federal legislation mandating more effective container chassis inspection more..
U05: Traffic Signal Safety (Phase A)
This project will develop new traffic signal control logic to improve the safety of heavy vehicles on high speed approaches to signalized intersections using wireless communication between a heavy vehicle and a roadside traffic signal controller. The project will build on the Trusted TruckTM onboard computer system using the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) concept for deployment of communication technology between vehicles and roadside infrastructure. This technology for heavy vehicles can also be migrated to emergency responders more..
U06: Trusted Truck® 2 (Phase A)
This project builds on prior work to instrument a heavy tractor trailer with sensors on critical vehicle safety systems and transmitting that data to an inspection station to support the US DOT goal of developing a capability of wireless truck inspections to enhance highway safety more..
U08: Enhanced Finite Element Analysis Crash Model of Tractor-Trailers (Phase B)
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) has established four major safety areas of concern for vehicle accidents most likely to cause injuries and fatalities: 1) lane change, 2) run-off-road, 3) rear-end clearance, and 4) intersections. This recommended effort focuses on technology developments to address run-off-road scenarios in which heavy trucks impact roadside barriers and other infrastructure elements. While much progress has been made over the past 15 years in analyzing the causes and effects of run-off-road accidents, much more information should be gathered, particularly for the heavy-vehicle mode of transportation. Selective computer analyses, together with limited field tests, are now being used to qualify roadside safety hardware. more...
U10: Trusted Truck® 2 (Phase B)
In Phase B the project will build off the system built in year 1 and the work being done in the wireless trailer communications arena, including work currently being undertaken by the University of Tennessee to identify and demonstrate the ability to do remote inspections of trailer safety criteria. more..
U12: Data Security for Trusted Truck® (Phase A)
Following the successful proof-of-concept demonstration of the Trusted Truck® - a project designed to show that a tractor trailer can communicate critical information both internally (on-board) and externally with roadside sites - an essential subsequent step, addressed by this project, is the development of a robust data security infrastructure to protect these on-board and external communications. For the system to be secure, the applications must be able to trust that the communication has been received unaltered and from a known source. Thus, a fundamental requisite for achieving security is the ability to provide for data confidentiality and authentication. more...
U14: Field Testing & Analysis of Braking Performance of In-Service Trucks
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is on the verge of requiring that the stopping distance of new trucks be reduced up to 30 percent below current regulations, depending on the vehicle type. However, this regulation does not address the braking performance of trucks after they have entered into service. Further, the current in-service vehicle inspection procedure, as well as the required annual inspection of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), may be missing a critical component of braking capability, that of the effectiveness of after-market or replacement brake linings, which have a direct impact on stopping capability. Inspection procedures for CMVs cannot assess the friction available at the pad versus drum (or disc) interface, and there are no data available on the criticality to safety of this aspect of the inspection process. The objective of this project is to obtain a data set of the stopping capability of in-service CMVs. more...
U13: Co-simulation of Heavy Truck Tire Dynamics and Electronic Stability Control (Phase A)
Increasingly new heavy trucks are being equipped with electronic driver aids such as electronic stability control systems ("ESC") to augment driver input and ensure vehicle stability in extreme maneuvers. While heavy truck vehicle and tire dynamic models are well understood and can be readily simulated today using computers, commercial ESC systems employ proprietary control algorithms developed by their suppliers. Therefore the effect of these systems on the overall vehicle dynamics cannot be readily simulated on the computer. Computer simulation is required to understand the effect of the system during accident avoidance maneuvers such as rapid lane changes which involve high lateral movement. The aim of this project is to develop a real-time simulation system that includes actual ESC system hardware to enable the study of the performance of heavy trucks equipped with such systems. more...
U15: Heavy Truck Tripped Rollover
Motor vehicle rollovers fall in two broad categories-tripped and untripped. A rollover is said to be tripped if some fixed object suddenly strikes the tires and upsets the vehicle. This can happen by striking a curb or guardrail or by tumbling down an embankment. A rollover would also be termed tripped if a lateral force on a tire is suddenly released, as when a tire is scrubbing a vertical pavement edge but quickly climbs the edge. Untripped rollovers, on the other hand, occur on essentially level pavement with the overturning moment being simply the cornering force on the tires, opposed by the centrifugal force at the center of gravity. Untripped rollovers are simpler to describe-they come from taking a curve too fast-but they are not the most common kind of heavy vehicle rollover. A recent report on cargo tank rollovers for the FMCSA [Pape et al., 2007] indicated that only 14% of cargo tank rollovers are untripped. Note that more than half of the rollovers were associated with a run-off-road incident. One-third of rollovers of cargo tank trucks carrying a hazardous material occur on undivided highway, away from an intersection. Again, this information from a different crash database indicates that the conventional "too fast in a curve" is not the sole reason for cargo tank rollovers. more...
U17: Trusted Truck® II- Phase C
The first 2 phases of the Trusted Truck® II project, built off of that initial project to further explore the concept of building a relationship of trust with commercial vehicles and motor carriers through wireless roadside inspections and compliance along with ways that would help enhance the efficiencies of the carriers. The goal will be to move closer to defining a mechanism for performing wireless roadside inspections (WRI).
The main task of phase C is to develop the implementation plan and system architecture development in preparation for the final Phase D development project. more...
U18: Heavy Vehicle Traffic Signal Safety - Phase B
Phase B will develop a working prototype where a simulated truck will be replaced with a real moving truck using wireless communication and a NTCIP 1211-like data message containing location, speed, heading and perhaps cargo information. This data message will replace the simulated truck and demonstrate the ability to wireless communicate with the traffic signal and modify its operation. The goal of Phase B will be proof of concept in nearly real-world, but in an off-road environment. more...
Heavy Vehicle Research
H01 Heavy Truck Rollover
Heavy truck rollover crashes are not frequent occurrences. They represent approximately three percent of all crashes for combination trucks. Although this percentage is low, fatalities associated with heavy truck rollovers are inordinately high. Truck rollover is a factor in about 13 percent of all fatal crashes of combination trucks. more..
H02 Trusted Truck® Proof of Concept
This research project demonstrated the potential to improve safety, efficiency, and security for both government and the transportation industry. This research was performed to demonstrate an advanced real-time system using wireless local transmission of brake diagnostics information from a moving truck traveling through a roadside inspection station. The system will use wireless communication to locally broadcast brake, engine, and other vehicle diagnostic information to an inspection station. more..
H03 Heavy Vehicle Infrastructure Asset Interaction and Collision
This research was performed to update and enhance the kinematic and structural accuracy of the National Crash Analysis Center's Ford F800 single-unit truck Finite Element (SUT FE) model. The research evaluated the model's ability to accurately simulate interaction with roadside safety hardware and to identify areas of possible improvements. The research also aimed to establish a methodology for validation and verification of the finite element models used in roadside hardware analysis so that it could be applied to other vehicle finite element models currently under development. more..
H04 Brake Performance Characterization
Reducing the disparity between the stopping distances of heavy trucks and the lighter vehicles with which they share the road continues to be one of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) high priority areas. Current truck designs typically take between 1.5 and 2 times as far to stop as passenger cars from highway speeds. Truck brake performance has been identified as a major factor contributing to crashes involving large trucks. more..