An Integrated Tread Beam/LuGre Tire-Road Friction Model

Abstract

Tire-road interactions modeling is critical for the development of enhanced safety of modern vehicles. This paper presents an integrated tread beam/LuGre tire-road contact friction model and an iterative force computation method to predict frictional forces at any given wheel slips. Steady-state friction force distribution is computed by solving the LuGre dynamic friction model with a power series method. A tread beam model is then used to capture the variation of the normal load on the tire-road contact patch and compute the load-shift impact under vehicle maneuvers. The use of the tread beam model bridges the local friction force estimates by the LuGre model with the global contact behavior under tire dynamics conditions. Numerical results are compared with those obtained by the finite element method and the comparison confirms the integrated modeling approach. This work provides an enabling practical tool for computing tire-road friction forces under dynamic conditions.