Normal and shear forces in the contact patch of a braked racing tyre. Part 2: development of a physical tyre model

Abstract

This article is the second part of a two-part article looking at carcass deflections, contact pressure and shear stress distributions for a steady-rolling, slipping and cambered tyre. In the first part, a previously described and validated finite-element (FE) model of a racing-car tyre is developed further to extract detailed results which are not easily obtainable through measurements on an actual tyre. Generally, these results aid in the understanding of contact patch characteristics. In particular, they form a basis for the development of a simpler physical tyre model, which forms the focus of this part of the article. The created simpler tyre model has the following three purposes: (i) to reduce computational demand while retaining accuracy, (ii) to allow identification of tyre model features that are fundamental to an accurate representation of the contact stresses and (iii) to create a facility for better understanding of tyre wear mechanisms and thermal effects. Results generated agree well with the physically realistic rolling-tyre behaviour demonstrated by the FE model. Also, the model results indicate that an accurate simulation of the contact stresses requires a detailed understanding of carcass deformation behaviour.