Welcome to our Presentation

on
Vibration analysis of a
three axle trailer

by:
Birhanu M.
&
Girma D.
advisors:
Ir. Fisseha Meressa
(M.Sc.Lecture, Mechanical eng’g department.)
Eng. Mahitem H/selassie
(Mesfin industrial eng’g )

05/26/24 1
 Problem Identification
• MIE is one of equipment manufacturing and
industrial companies in Ethiopia .
• Trailer is one of the main products of the
company . Among these, trailers of length 7.0m
encounter two main problems which are a failer
on the front axle and excessive vibration.
• The problem happens when the overall length of
trailer is changed from 7.5 to 7 m without
changing the wheelbase

05/26/24 2
 Objective
The main purpose of this project is to study the dynamic
(vibration) analysis of :
- Trailer of 7.5 m length with 20 ton load (wheel base = 3800)
– Trailer of 7.5 m length without load (wheel base = 3800)
– Trailer of 7.0 m length with 20 ton load (wheel base = 3800)
– Trailer of 7.0 m length without load (wheel base =3800)
– Currently used trailer of 7.0 m length with 20 ton load (wheel
base =3450)
– Currently used trailer of 7.0m length without load (wheel
base=3450).
has been investigated and the eigen-vectors (mode-shapes) and
eigen-values (natural frequencies) determined.

05/26/24 3
 Specification and description

Trailer – 1
• Overall length: 7500mm
• Overall width: 2500mm
• Front board height: 1400mm
• Side and rear board height: 700mm
• Side and rear grill height: 600mm
• Load capacity 20ton
wheel base 3800mm

05/26/24 4
 …contd

Figure 7.5m Trailer

05/26/24 5
 ….contd

Trailer-2
• Overall length: 7000mm
• Overall width: 2500mm
• Front board height: 1600mm
• Side and rear board height: 900mm
• Side and rear grill height: 600mm
• Load capacity 20ton
• Wheelbase 3800mm

05/26/24 6
 Figure 7.0m trailer with wheelbase 3.8m.

05/26/24 7
 ….contd
Trailer 3
Wheel base
=3450mm

Figure currently used (modified) 7.0mtrailer with wheelbase 3.45m

05/26/24 8
 Degree of freedom
• The minimum number of independent coordinates required to
determine completely the position of all parts of a system at any
instant of time is known as the degree of freedom of the system

Single degree of freedom

. m ẍ +c ẋ + k x =F

05/26/24 9
 …contd

Fig. two degree of freedom system

Fig. Multiple degree of freedom system

05/26/24 10
 …contd

• The general rule of for the computation of the number of

degrees of freedom can be given as
Number of Number of masses in the system*
degrees of freedom = Number of possible types of
of the system motion of each mass

05/26/24 11
 Vibration analysis procedure
Most practical vibrating systems are very complex and therefore it is
impossible to consider all the details for a mathematical analysis
The overall behavior of the system can be determined by considering a
simple model of the complex physical system.
The analysis of the vibrating system usually involves the following
procedures

• Physical modeling
• Mathematical modeling
• Derivation of the governing equations
• Solution of the equations
• Validity of the solution
• Interpretation of the results

05/26/24 12
 Newton's law

Procedures to derive the equations of motion of a multi-degree of

freedom system using Newton’s second law of motion :
Set up suitable coordinates to describe the motion of various
point masses and rigid bodies in the system
Determine the static equilibrium configuration of the system
Draw the free-body diagram of each mass or rigid body in
the system. Indicate the spring, damping, and external forces
Apply Newton’s second law of motion to each mass or rigid
body form the free body diagram.
Newton’s second law of motion states as
“The rate of change of momentum of a mass is equal to the
force acting on it.” d2
F (t )  m x(t )  mx

dt 2

M (t )  J
05/26/24 13
 Matrices

Matrix analysis is most convenient for analyzing

multiple degree-of-freedom vibratory systems
There is one equation of motion for each degree of
freedom. This makes the matrix of the equation of
motion have an equal number of rows and columns
(or square matrix).

05/26/24 14
 3 MODELING
. Main parts
-suspension system(including axle)
-tyre and
-trailer body
The mathematical model may be linear or non linear,
depending on the behavior of the component of the system.
Sometimes the mathematical model is gradually improved
to obtain more accurate results.

05/26/24 15
 3.1 Suspension system

• to isolate the vehicle body from the road shocks which may be in the
form of bounce, pitch, roll, or sway.
• as the suspension system has energy storing and energy dissipation
characteristic, it can simply be modeled as a spring and a damper as
shown below.

Fig . suspension model

05/26/24 16
 Cont ..
According to data obtained from the manufacturer
• Deformation of front suspension when loaded with 12ton
= (485-455)mm= 30mm
• Deformation of the rear suspension when loaded with 12ton:
= (490-460)mm = 30mm
Ksf =3.924*106N/m
Krs1 = Krs2 =3.924*106N/m

05/26/24 17
 Tyre stiffness

• is measured by the change of wheel load per unit

displacement of the wheel relative to the road
surface.
• Neglecting the elasto-rubber nature, the tyre is
simply modeled as:

Fig. Simple modeling of tyre

05/26/24 18
 Cont….
• The size of the tyre used for the trailer is known to be
12.00R20. For this tyre from MATADOR-ADDIS the
following specification were found:
• Aspect ratio =1
• Total diameter=(20+12*2)*25.4=1118mm
• Unloaded tyre radius =1118/2=559mm
• Loaded (dynamic) Tyre Radius for 3750kg of load =538mm.
• Tyre deflection =559-538=21mm.
Therefore the stiffness of single tyre is determined as

Kt = 1751785.7N/m

05/26/24 19
 …contd
• However, the deflection of the chassis is very much small when
compared to the deflections of the suspension spring and the tire that it
can be considered as if it is rigidly fixed, so the model can be expressed
as :

05/26/24 20
 …..contd
• By taking the equivalent spring stiffness
and damping the model can be minimized which is suitable for the
analysis

05/26/24 21
 Cont…

Keq2 = Keq3 = 2508029.19N/m

05/26/24 22
 AutoCAD

05/26/24 23
 ….contd

Results from AutoCAD

05/26/24 24
 Analysis using two springs

…………………………………… (4.1.5)

Newton second law of motion gives:

m ……………………………………..
a2 
x1  a1 x2   k1 x1  k2 x2  0
L
I
 
x1  x2   a1k1 x1  a2 k2 x2  0
L

05/26/24 25
 …contd
• After certain step:
1
M 0  0 K 
A 
0 L   I 0 

 m m 
 k1 k2 
  L a2 a1
L  K 
M   
 I 
I   a1k2 a2 k2 
 L L 

0 0 1 0
0 I  
0 0
 0 1


05/26/24 26
 Matlab result 1

05/26/24 27
 Analysis with three springs

Newton second law of motion

m  k2   k2 
 a3 
x1  a1 x3   k1   a3  a2  x1   (a2  a1 )  k3  x3  0
L  L  L 
I  k2   k2 

x1  x3   a1k1  a2 (a3  a2 )  x1  a3k3  a2 (a2  a1 )  x3  0
L  L  L

05/26/24 28
 …contd

MatLab Results 2

05/26/24 29
 Conclusion and recommendation
Conclusion
 Though the dynamic analysis result conducted for the
three options has a slight difference interims of natural
frequency ( ) a growth of 4% and 7.3%1 in the first and
second methods respectively.

 7.0m long trailer with wheelbase of 3.8m showed the

largest displacement ratio in both methods carried out (i.e.
2.1661 & 1.469 )

05/26/24 30
 …..contd
 with reducing the wheelbase from 3.8m to 3.45m
the growth in the natural frequency has been
significantly removed even slightly better than the
original.
Therefore, this dynamic analysis supports the
modification recommended changing the wheelbase
from 3.8m to 3.45m.

05/26/24 31
 …contd
Recommendations
 for better accurate dynamic results, computing the three
degree of freedom (3DOF) analysis of the trailer may be
important.
 if better accuracy is necessary, there should be a vibration
measuring instrument.
 3D assembly of the trailer has taken much time, but it was
better to focus on the dynamic analysis so that a better
result will be achieved.

05/26/24 32
 Thanks
?
05/26/24 33