Examining the safety of trucks under crosswind at bridge-tunnel section: A driving simulator study

•We conducted a driving simulator experiment based on a two-axle box truck subjected to crosswind at bridge-tunnel section.•The reference of the yaw stability was proposed based on the performance of the moving truck with no crosswind applied.•Under the same crosswind speed, the crosswind from left causes a larger lateral displacement of the moving truck than the crosswind from the right. Bridge-tunnel section is the connecting section between bridges and tunnels, where strong crosswind is considered as one of the most important causes of traffic accidents, in particular for trucks. A driving simulator experiment has been carried out based on a box truck module, with the purpose of investigating the safety of the truck under crosswind at the bridge-tunnel section. Nineteen professional truck drivers participated in the driving simulator tests. The yawing rate and steering angle are selected as the indices of the dynamic response under crosswinds. The response characteristics of the truck entering a tunnel from crosswind region are also discussed particularly. The reference of yaw stability has been proposed based on the performance when the truck moves on the first tunnel section with no crosswind applied. The results indicate that the yaw stability of the moving truck becomes worse as the intensity of crosswind action increases and the lateral displacement resulted from the left-to-right crosswind is larger than that from the right-to-left. A transitional section at the entrance of the tunnel should be designed to prevent the possible accident induced by large lateral displacement under strong crosswind.