Patent ID: 8449017

Claim:
A resilient strut adapted to secure an aerodynamic skirt to a trailer, the aerodynamic skirt being adapted to be substantially longitudinally mounted to the trailer, the aerodynamic skirt comprising a skirt panel including a front portion and a rear portion, the front portion being adapted to be mounted toward a forward portion of the trailer and the rear portion being adapted to be mounted toward a rear portion of the trailer in a configuration reducing air drag about the trailer, the skirt panel being adapted to move away from the configuration reducing air drag about the trailer when contacting a foreign object and to recover the configuration reducing air drag about the trailer thereafter, the resilient strut being adapted to sustain an elastic deformation when a load is applied to the resilient strut when the skirt panel moves away from the configuration reducing air drag about the trailer and to self-recover the resilient strut original shape when the load is removed, the resilient strut including a longitudinal shape variation adapted to change a mechanical strength of the resilient strut and influence a stiffness of the resilient strut.