The influence of mass parameters of the body on active safety of a fire engine in terms of the selection of chassis

The position of the centre of masses affects the distribution of wheel loads and, at the same time, the stability of the vehicle in drive on bends as well as the course (intensity and efficiency) of braking. For fire engines heading for the site of emergency, these are important properties regarding performance. The paper presents a simplified factor analysis of the influence of the centre of masses position in special vehicles with fire fighting bodywork on the characteristics of steering, lateral stability and braking forces. A relation between the transfer function and the driving speed has been presented and the influence of the distance between the centre of masses from the rear axle of the vehicle on its steerability has been analysed. With the examples of given vehicles, it has been shown to what extent the mentioned indices and parameters can be changed after equipping a standard truck chassis with our bodywork system. The information contained herein may be useful for the construction departments of specialized vehicle bodywork manufacturers.