Tire Transient Analysis with an Explicit Finite Element Program

Abstract

Abstract The Finite Element (FE) method has long been recognized as an effective analytical tool for tire design analysis. However, meaningful prediction of the tire dynamic characteristics, such as tire transient responses, was not feasible due to the limitations of the traditional commercial FE programs. The availability of the explicit FE programs has made such simulation one step closer to reality. In this paper LS-DYNA3D, an explicit FE program, is used to simulate a simple tire test, demonstrating that it is possible to predict the tire dynamic responses from the tire design data. Geometry, material properties of various components and the fiber reinforcement, layout, etc. of a commercial tire were used to create the tire FE model. Tire carcass composite properties were calculated from a strain energy function derived for the fiber-reinforced rubber. The Mooney constitutive law was adopted for the elastic properties of the rubbers. The tire model was coupled with a rigid wheel model and inflated to a specified inflation pressure. The tire-wheel model was then loaded against a rotating rigid cylinder with an attached semi-circular cleat. The calculated tire center reaction forces showed good correlation with laboratory measurements.