Isolating the Influence of Road Grade and Curvature on Class-8 Truck Platoon Energy Efficiency
2022-01-0066
03/29/2022
- Event
- Content
- Platooning heavy-duty trucks reduces aerodynamic drag for following trucks, reducing energy consumption and increasing both range and mileage. Previous platooning experimentation has demonstrated fuel economy benefits in two-, three-, and four-truck configurations. However, exogenous variables disturb the ability of these platoons to maintain the desired formation, causing an accordion effect within the platoon and subsequently reducing energy benefits via unnecessary acceleration/deceleration events. This phenomenon is increasingly exacerbated as platoon size and road grade variations increase. The current work assesses how platoon size, road curvature and road grade influence platoon energy efficiency. Fuel consumption rate is experimentally quantified for four heterogeneous Class 8 vehicles operating in standalone (baseline), two-, and four-truck platooning configurations to assess fuel consumption changes while driving through diverse road conditions under the command of a coordinated adaptive cruise control (CACC). The four heterogeneous trucks were operated at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) oval track and the American Center for Mobility (ACM) freeway loop. An “ideal” platooning case is established to quantify the maximum energy efficiency of each platoon configuration utilizing straight sections of the NCAT track, which contain trivial grade changes and complete alignment of all platooning vehicles. Fuel data for all subsequent platooning operation is then compared to these ideal platooning energy efficiency gains in addition to the individual vehicle baselines. Platoon energy efficiency benefits while operating over the grade and curvature variations of the ACM track are then compared against the ideal platooning benefits to isolate the influence of road grade and curvature on energy efficiency.
- Citation
- Snitzer, P., Stegner, E., Siefert, J., Bevly, D. et al., "Isolating the Influence of Road Grade and Curvature on Class-8 Truck Platoon Energy Efficiency," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0066, 2022, .