Pattern Design of Non-Pneumatic Tire for Stiffness Using Topology Optimization

Abstract

Non-pneumatic tires have been developed and being investigated, but not much prevalent. Many design studies are yet needed from the viewpoint of material, pattern, and structures. No systematic research for such important design issues have been reported in the literature. In this paper, as the first important step of design, topology optimization was utilized to determine optimal topological patterns of non-pneumatic tires, with the goal of matching the static stiffness of the current pneumatic tires. Under the optimization formulation with weighted compliance and a volume constraint, several different patterns were obtained depending on the number of patterns, volume fraction, and weighting factors. Among them, three representative patterns were chosen and analyzed for their possible applications under specific working condition. This paper proposes a systematic and efficient tool for designing the topological patterns of non-pneumatic tires.