An experimental and simulation study on static tire enveloping stiffness

Abstract

An experimental and simulation study on static tire enveloping stiffness 1. Introduction Tires are the only component of a car in contact with the ground, and the mechanical performance of the tire directly affects the comprehensive performance in terms of the car's handling stability and comfort. Enhancing the mechanical properties of tires can greatly improve the safety and stability of the vehicle. Tire stiffness is an indispensable part of the mechanical analysis of tires, and it is divided into lateral stiffness, longitudinal stiffness, torsional stiffness, radial stiffness, and enveloping stiffness. The enveloping stiffness reflects the tolerance of the tire to uneven surfaces, stones, and potholes. The enveloping stiffness of a tire will directly affect the comfort of the vehicle on the road. Many studies (Zhou et al.,2009) have been performed on the enveloping stiffness with small bumps and quasi-static conditions used finite element software to simulate the stiffness characteristics of a tire, the bump width was 10 mm, and the pressure was 0.2 MPa. The deformation contour and displacement load curves of the tire were obtained. The relationship between the rise heights of the bumps and load was basically consistent with the experimental values. Some studies (Li et al.,2019) based on the static enveloping characteristics of tires used finite element software to simulate the rolling conditions of tires under different tire pressures and loads and low-speed rolling over a bulge. They found that at low speeds, the tire pressure and tire enveloping stiffness had a significant influence on the dynamic enveloping characteristics of the tire. Furthermore, the model that best matched the experimental data was composed of beam elements with a softening basis. The model was used to calculate the radial stiffness of the tire instead of the sidewall stiffness and inflation pressure, after which a model of the bump and tread was added using finite element software to study the effect of the load and radial stiffness on the enveloping characteristics of the tire. Some authors (Qiu et al.,1994) assumed that the radial stiffness of the tire was nonlinear, and