The University of Fukui and the Public Works Research Institute, Niigata ExperimentalLabor-atory, have been collecting the sliding friction coefficient data for different winter road surface conditions us-ing a new type of vehicle (MASS-vehicle) since 2000. The MASS-vehicle is a friction-measurement vehicle equipped with a new type of Antilock Braking system, known as the Multi-Axial Sensing system (MASS), invented by one of the coauthors. A joint test using a friction-measurement bus with an instrument-embedded wheel mounted to its body (5th wheel bus) and the MASS-vehicle was conducted in Myoko-Kogen village in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The test roads include roads over ravines with steep slopes ranging from three to eight percent inclines. It has been concluded from our test data that the effect of road slope on the sliding friction coefficient is negligible for the MASS-vehicle but significant for the 5th wheel bus, which tends to overestimate the sliding friction coefficient on a downhill road surface.
展开▼
