Trailer Design Guideline > Future proof your business
Greater trailer capacity
The requirements for trailers are constantly evolving, with the three main goals being:
- Greater trailer capacity.
- Lower lifetime cost.
- Lower carbon footprint.
Although these goals may sound contradictory, less and more advanced steel can support them all. Together, they ensure that trailers are competitive, profitable and future-proof.
Regardless of whether the limiting capacity is maximum trailer weight or maximum volume, higher trailer capacity is defined by design.
To increase the load capacity, the trailer must be made lighter. To increase the volume capacity, the trailer chassis height can be lowered, assuming the maximum vehicle height is reached.
In both cases, the key is advanced design and advanced steel. For more than 30 years, SSAB has been providing technical support to customers who want to build advanced structural equipment made with yield strengths ranging from 700 to 1100 MPa.
New design aims to go beyond what others have done. To challenge the traditional two-beam trailer solution with perpendicular profiles. To en-able the design to follow and manage the stresses rather than isolate and concentrate them
.
A complete redesign is required to achieve the full effect. In addition to redesigning beams and crossbeams, it should include:
- Consideration of alternative production methods.
- Allowing for elastic movements.
- Using alternative joint methods to welding, such as bolting, riveting, clinching and bonding.
- Eliminating welded joints with forming or3D-printing.
- Replacing welded joints.
- Post-treating welded joints.
- Avoiding instability of the steel members.
- Avoiding instability of the whole trailer.
- Avoiding fatigue.
Let SSAB show you how it can be done!
Upgrading from standard steel to Strenx® high-strength steel enables new trailer designs with less steel in the chassis, higher pay-load, greater profitability and a longer service life (illustrative).
The information in this report is only applicable to SSAB’s products and should not be applied to any other products than original SSAB products.
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