Tire cornering simulation using finite element analysis

Abstract

The finite element method (FEM) has been used widely in tire engineering. Most tire simulations with FEM are static analysis, because tire is one of most complex structures. Recently, transient analysis has been studied with explicit finite element analysis code. In this paper, at first, we describe characteristics of tire analysis by means of FEM, and implicit/explicit finite element codes for analysis. And then we conduct tire cornering simulation with implicit and explicit finite element analysis codes, where implicit finite element analysis (FEA) describes the steady state cornering simulation and explicit FEA describes transient cornering simulation. In the case of implicit FEA, finite element model of tire requires the fine mesh only in the contact region because of formulation by moving reference frame technique. On the other hand, for explicit FEA, fine mesh is required in the circumferential direction of tire. Predicted cornering forces of passenger car's tire using implicit/explicit FEM are compared with experimental results obtained from MTS Flat-Test Tire Test Systems. We can get a good correlation between predicted ones and experimental ones. CPU time for cornering simulation using implicit FEM is shorter than that of explicit FEM. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 78: 1566–1572, 2000