Cornering Stability Analysis of Double Decker Bus at KM15 of Cameroon Highlands – Simpang Pulai Road

• Main Author: Zulkifli, Siti Nadiah
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2013
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10606/1/progress%20report%20fyp.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10606/

Double decker buses are widely used on Malaysian road today because of its ability to increase the profits for the coach operatorsthrough the reduction of fuel consumption and its operating maintenance cost as well as the ability to carry more passengers per trip compared to single deck buses. Because of the popularity of using double decker buses for a long distance travel is keep increasing, it has become a major concern in road safety since many fatal accidents happened involving this type of vehicle. On 20th December 2010, Malaysia was shocked by news of the horrific accident that resulted 27 passengers killed out of 37 passengers at KM15 Cameroon Highlands- SimpangPulai road. This is the worst historical road accident in the nation's history. The accident started after the vehicle hit a divider and overturned on its way down from Cameron Highlands. It landed on its roof in a ditch about 51m away from the divider. The bus was heading to Kuala Lumpur from Cameron Highlands. The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (Miros) has found double decker buses to be not suitable for long distance travel especially on winding, mountainous regions with steep slopes roads like in Sabah, Sarawak and Cameroon Highlands as they have high centre of gravity. There are many possibilities of the factor to happen. To get the confirmation of the exact factor of the accident, an analysis is carry out at the place where the accident is happened. Method used in the analysis is by visiting the site, calculation of the slip and tip angle and speed of the vehicle, modelling and simulation of double decker bus using Adams Car software.