Impact assessment of the transported load mass on the lateral dynamics of a light delivery vehicles

This study addresses the broadly defined safety of cargo in light commercial vehicles. The practical goal was to verify whether costly accelerators used for bench testing of palletized cargo units could be effectively replaced by experimental tests using typical motor vehicles. Road tests were conducted using a standard Fiat Ducato van equipped with two acceleration sensors positioned at different heights within the cargo area. This configuration also allowed for a comparison of the lateral accelerations to which goods transported are exerted at different heights of vehicle body. The tests included multiple drives along a route chosen due to numerous tight curves, and the vehicle’s lateral dynamics were examined under four different load conditions. The experimental measurements demonstrated that the tested light delivery vehicle could reach lateral accelerations up to 0.8 g, with exceedances of 0.6 g occurring across all loading configurations. Moreover, lighter vehicle configurations showed 10 – 25% higher maximum and mean lateral accelerations compared with the heaviest configuration, confirming that reduced gross mass significantly increases lateral dynamic response. These results confirm that light commercial vehicles and their loads can be subjected to very high lateral accelerations. Furthermore, higher maximum accelerations were recorded in the upper zone of the cargo area. To assess the vehicle load limits at which the risk of rollover becomes critical during intense turning maneuvers, further analytical calculations were performed using a simplified vehicle model. The analytical assessment further indicated that rollover risk becomes critical when the vehicle’s center of gravity exceeds approximately 1.12 m, providing a quantifiable threshold for evaluating the safe testing of pallet units with higher center of gravity.