Trailerteq produce rapid-deployment trailers for the breakdown recovery services; the trailers quickly unfold from a stowed configuration and allow broken down vehicles to be towed away. The trailers must be light enough to enable easy deployment, articulated to allow a small stowed size and yet strong enough to allow the carriage of a vehicle under on-road conditions and speeds.

Having previously aided Trailerteq in the development of the rapid-deployment trailer through analysis and calculations, we were asked again to provide our services when their clients required an increase in the maximum working load of the trailer. Previous analysis and development had produced a design with a safe working load of 1200kg. The new requirement was for a trailer capable of operating with a 1400kg load.

This required a redesign of the old trailer in a number of areas to keep stresses and deflections within allowable limits for the new load.

FEA enabled us to run a number of iterations on the design where certain parameters were modified until a compliant design was achieved.

This would have taken much longer (and cost significantly more) if it was achieved through the building and physical testing of real prototypes.