AN EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF BUS-INDUCED AERODYNAMIC DISTURBANCES ON ADJACENT VEHICLE CONTROL AND PERFORMANCE

The report investigates the nature and magnitude of the effect of bus-induced aerodynamic disturbances on adjacent highway vehicles. The study comprised full scale experiments, wind tunnel tests and driver/vehicle/disturbance response and performance analyses. The results are expressed terms of overall driver/vehicle safety performance, with emphasis on steering control and side to side deviations of the disturbed vehicle's path along the roadway. The basic situations studied involve a station wagon and an intercity bus, a two lane road, overtaking and passing and vehicle-bus oncoming. Within this framework the following parameters were varied: bus width and shape, lateral separation and lane width, ambient wind magnitude and direction, vehicle-bus speeds, and driver skill and alertness. (Author Modified Abstract)