Field determination of cargo-deck friction coefficients

Friction between cargo and vehicle's deck has been considered among the supplemental means for securing cargo. Although friction coefficients have been determined as a function of different influencing factors, such measurements have been performed under laboratory controlled conditions that simplify vehicle vibration and cargo-deck stiffness and contact characteristics. In this paper a methodology is proposed to quantify cargo-deck friction coefficients under realistic field conditions throughout the kinematical analysis of the stopping of the cargo-carrying vehicle by effects of dragging the cargo on the vehicle's platform. The vehicle is located on an inclined road segment while the cargo is lashed to a fixed point on the road, in such a manner that the vehicle can travel a certain distance before the lashing becomes tensioned and the cargo starts stopping the vehicle. While average values for friction coefficients correlated well with those reported in the literature, standard deviations represented up to 33% of such average values.