Simulation and Analysis on the Effect of Gross Vehicle Weight on Braking Distance of Heavy Vehicle

Increasing number of fatalities caused by road accidents involving heavy vehicles every year has raised the level of concern and awareness on road safety situation in developing countries like Malaysia. This study attempts to explore the influences of vehicle dynamics characteristics such as vehicle weight and travel speed on its safety braking distance. This study uses a kind of complex virtual prototyping software to simulate vehicle dynamics and its braking performance characteristics. The software was used to generate braking distance data for various vehicle types under various loads and speed condition. The generated data was grouped according to GVW and then analyzed by two-way ANOVA to evaluate its relationship to braking distance. The finding of this study implies that the speed and GVW of various vehicle classifications has a significant effect to the heavy vehicle braking distance.