FEA Rotating Tire Modeling for Transient Response Simulations

Abstract

A full nonlinear finite element P185/70R14 passenger car radial-ply tire model was developed and run on a 1.7-meter-diameter spinning test drum. The virtual tire/drum/cleat finite element model was constructed and tested using the nonlinear finite element analysis software, PAM-SHOCK. The tire model was constructed in extreme detail with three-dimensional solid, layered membrane, and beam finite elements, incorporating over 18,000 nodes and 24 different types of materials. In addition to the tire model itself, the rim was also included and rotated with the tire, with proper mass and rotational inertial effects. The FFT algorithm was applied to examine the transient response information in the frequency domain. The result showed that this P185/70R14 tire has clear peaks of 84 and 45 Hz transmissibility in the vertical and longitudinal directions. Also the paper presents the prediction of tire standing waves phenomenon, and computer animations of the standing waves phenomenon were carried out for the first time. The effects of different tire inflation pressures and tire axle loadings were investigated with respect to their influences on the formation of standing waves. The parameters adopted in this FEA tire model were validated against experimental work and showed excellent agreement.