Two-Dimensional Contact Pressure Distribution of a Radial Tire in Motion

Abstract

The two-dimensional contact pressure distribution of a running radial tire under load is a fundamental property of the tire structure. The two-dimensional contact pressure distribution in the static case and the one-dimensional contact pressure distribution in the dynamic case were previously analyzed for a spring bedded ring model consisting of a composite belt ring and a spring system for the sidewall and the tread rubber. In this paper, a Voigt-type viscoelastic spring system is assumed for the sidewall and the tread rubber. We analyzed the dynamic deformation of the belt ring in a steady state, and obtained the two-dimensional dynamic contact pressure distribution at speeds up to approximately 60 km/h. The predicted contact pressure distribution for a model with appropriate values for the damping coefficient of each constituent rubber is shown to be in good agreement with experimental results. It is a characteristic feature that increasing velocity yields an increase in the pressure at the leading edge of the crown centerline in the contact area and at the trailing edge of the shoulder line.

Static Tire/Road Stick–Slip Interactions: Analysis and Experiments

“…It is noted that although the simple torus-shape tire is used in this study, as shown in Fig. 6 and in [23], the normal contact pressure distribution follows the similar pattern as those obtained by using actual automobile tires reported in [8] and [9].…”

“…Although the small pocket motorcycle tire with the smooth outer surface is used in this study, some contact properties such as the normal contact pressure distribution are similar to those of typical passenger car tires, as shown in [8], [9]. Thus, the use of this tread-free tire can obtain meaningful knowledge of the fundamentals of tire/road interactions.…”

“…Remark 2: The above derivation does not consider the existence of the friction force F f on P. The experimental results show that during the stick-to-slip transition, the peak values of P n (x, y) tend to shift toward the leading edge. However, in contrast to the fingertip contact [13], [14], [27], the magnitude of change of P n (x, y) during stick-to-slip transitions is limited due to the hollow structure and the relatively smaller friction forces than those in dynamic interactions of rotating tires [8]. Therefore, the change of P n (x, y) under F f is neglected in the rest of discussions.…”

“…The LuGre dynamic models in [4]- [7] are built on the given normal force distribution to calculate rubber deformation distributions without experimental validation. Although the normal load distribution is discussed in [8] and [9], few works are reported on analyses and experiments of the rubber deformation and friction force distributions on the contact patch. One of main goals of this study is to fill the gap of such knowledge.…”

Embedded Flexible Force Sensor for In-Situ Tire–Road Interaction Measurements

“…We choose this type of motorcycle tires with simple geometry and structure such that we can focus on the fundamental mechanical contact properties without distraction by the influences of other factors such as tire treads and grooves etc. Although we choose this simple-geometry tire, as shown in experiments in this paper and in [18], the contact properties such as the normal contact pressure distribution follow the similar pattern as those obtained by using actual automobile tires reported in [21], [22].…”