Abstract
Keywords:
Tire model, Ride, Flexible ring, Contact pressure
Abstract
This study presents a comprehensive tire model with two-dimensional contact patch. The model is composed of two parts—the modeling of the contact mechanism and the tire forces/moments. A static circular beam model is introduced for the contact mechanism, in which a tire is modeled with three compliance components—6-DOF spring/damper elements for the sidewall and the internal pressure, a flexible circular beam for the belt layers, and a series of radial springs for the tread. This contact model can estimate the 2-D contact shape and the contact pressure distributions for even or uneven road surfaces. Shear deformation of a tread element is directly measured by monitoring its displacement. The tire forces and moments are then obtained by integrating the shear stress over the contact patch. By employing a rigid ring concept, the transient characteristics of the tire can also be examined in low frequency ranges. The ideas are verified with a set of measurement data such as the tire forces/moments for various driving conditions such as combined slip conditions as well as pure lateral and longitudinal slip conditions. Also, the simulation results of 2-D contact pressure distributions are given for straight running and severe slip angle conditions.