ABSTRACT
Several accidents occur each year wherein an excavator topples whilst traversing on a slope. Analysis of past accidents showed that toppling accidents occurred even on slopes with a smaller angle than the stability of the machinery. In this study a 1/10th scale model of an excavator was developed to clarify the mechanisms that render such machinery unstable whilst moving on a slope in centrifuge model tests were performed. The results of the centrifuge model tests reproduced the toppling phenomenon of the excavator model on slopes with an inclination angle smaller than the stability angle of the model excavator. It was clarified that the toppling phenomenon that occur while an excavator is moving on a slope can be roughly explained by approximate values based on the law of conservation of energy.
