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Old 08-21-2011, 10:48 AM   #39 (permalink)
Patrick
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Hot Tamale - '10 Toyota Prius III
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee View Post
I don't think delta or tadpole is the primary determinant of stability; the thing just needs to have the heavy end be the same end as the pair of wheels. Oh, and low Cg helps too.
From: Three-Wheel Vehicle Handling Characteristics:


A conventional, non-tilting three wheel car can equal the rollover resistance of a four wheel car, provided the location of the center-of-gravity (cg) is low and near the side-by-side wheels. Like a four wheel vehicle, a three-wheeler's margin of safety against rollover is determined by its L/H ratio, or the half-tread (L) in relation to the cg height (H). Unlike a four-wheeler, however, a three-wheeler's half-tread is determined by the relationship between the actual tread (distance between the side-by-side wheels) and the longitudinal location of the cg, which translates into an "effective" half-tread. The effective half-tread can be increased by placing the side-by-side wheels farther apart, by locating the cg closer to the side-by-side wheels, and to a lesser degree by increasing the wheelbase. Rollover resistance increases when the effective half-tread is increased and when the cg lowered, both of which increase the L/H ratio.



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