Blowover Risk Assessment for Tractor-Trailer Trucks in High Winds Using a Blowover and Statistical Model

Abstract

Tractor-trailer blowover crashes caused by strong winds are a major concern for the safety of their operators and others sharing the road. These crashes also trigger highway closures resulting in considerable economic impact. This study presents a blowover model based on stability forces that integrates the wind field, road geometry, and vehicle specifications to provide a critical vehicle speed for blowovers. A high-frequency sonic anemometer was deployed at the study area which witnessed three blowover crashes during the study period. The results showed that the critical vehicle speed from the model dipped below the posted speed limit at the time of blowovers for all three blowover crashes. The risk of a blowover crash was quantified as an exceedance probability of the fitted distribution to the temporal critical vehicle speed variations based on the high-frequency wind data within every 15-min time window. This framework, when applied to a stretch of road, was able to demonstrate the ability to identify the instances and the locations of higher blowover risk using wind measurements from the more prevalent mechanical anemometers.