The paper presents a model of an articulated vehicle with a flexible frame of a semi-trailer. The rigid finite element method in a modified formulation is used for discretisation of the frame. In order to carry out effective numerical simulation, a reduced model with a considerably smaller number of degrees of freedom is proposed. The parameters of the reduced model are chosen in an optimization process by using a genetic algorithm. To this end, it is assumed that the full and reduced model have to be similar in the range of static deflections and frequencies of free vibrations. Numerical simulations are concerned with the influence of the flexibility of the frame on the motion of the articulated vehicle during an overtaking maneuver. Results are presented and discussed.

The author investigated traffic flow quality on a new 2+1 long road bypass with an exceptionally high share of heavy vehicles in order to assess rational limits of heavy vehicle shares in traffic flow, dependent on the length of the 2+1 road and the number of passing segments in each direction. This paper presents the results of traffic flow quality analyses through the use of empirical and simulation methods for a single 2+1 road segment with additional passing lanes, as well as for the study of the entire section of the bypass – 2+1 road. Variables include analysis of travel speed distribution, platoon traffic, and amount of passing maneuvers. Results show that large passing demands lead to very high speeds (over 100 km/h) on segments with additional passing lanes. The conclusions include remarks related to the use and operation of 2+1 cross-sections with high shares of heavy vehicles.