Load-Sensitive Tire–Road Friction Modeling and Dynamic Stability Analysis of Multi-Axle Trucks

This study addresses the accurate estimation of safe driving speeds for multi-axle trucks negotiating curved road segments by explicitly incorporating dynamic axle load transfer and load-sensitive tire–road friction characteristics. Conventional standards that assume a constant friction coefficient fail to capture wheel-specific load variations, leading to underestimation of rollover and skidding risks. To overcome these limitations, a load-sensitive friction model is integrated with the friction ellipse and static rollover threshold (SRT), and a forward–backward algorithm is applied to compute dynamically feasible speed trajectories. The proposed framework is demonstrated through accident reconstruction of a ramp rollover scenario using TruckSim–Simulink co-simulation with reported geometric and vehicle parameters. The results reveal that neglecting load sensitivity systematically overestimates safe speeds and underestimates lateral deviation. Furthermore, SRT variation analysis illustrates a trade-off between structural stability and frictional constraints, where rollover dominates under low stability and skidding under high stability conditions. These findings emphasize the necessity of accounting for dynamic load distribution and load-sensitive friction in truck safety speed estimation, providing a foundation for autonomous truck speed control strategies and enhanced road design standards.