THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FIBRE COMPOSITE SEMI-TRAILER

This paper introduces work that forms a part of ongoing PhD research into the development of a fibre composite semi-trailer. The paper discusses current engineering problems within the transportation industry, and the general design approach that has been adopted for the new trailer. The design and construction of a small-scale fibre composite trailer, developed in the initial stages of this project, is also discussed. This trailer utilises a new type of beam design, complemented by a construction method free from mechanical fasteners. The trailer was designed with weight reduction as its primary goal, with attention given to the reduction of assembly complications. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E204495.