Cornering characteristics of a truck tire on wet surface using finite element analysis and smoothed-particle hydrodynamics

Abstract

This paper presents the cornering characteristics of a wide base truck tire 445/50R22.5 over dry and wet surfaces in a virtual software package Pam-Crash. The wide base truck tire is modeled and validated using finite element analysis, while the water is modeled using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics technique. The tire–terrain interaction algorithm captures the node-symmetric node-to-segment contact with edge treatment. The simulation is repeated for several inflation pressure, applied vertical loading, cornering angles and water depth to evaluate the influence of these parameters on the tire operational performance. The simulation results obtained are validated against experimental data published in literature. The cornering characteristics investigated includes the lateral force, rolling resistance, cornering stiffness and self-aligning moment. Finally, the optimal operating conditions of the wide base tire are presented. To the author’s knowledge, no previous attempt to compute cornering characteristics of a truck tire on a wet surface using SPH technique has been made. This work will be further used for tire performance prediction research.