The Contact Patch Analysis of Solid Tire on Drum Testing by Finite Element Method

Abstract

Abstract The drum testing method is an effective method to study the tire-rotating characteristic. The rolling resistance and contact force are carried out for tire performance development. The tire was tested by the cylindrical drum indoor laboratory. Thus, the contact patch of rolling solid tire on the drum surface should provide the same results as the tire testing on a flat surface. This research uses a finite element method to develop the drum testing of solid tire model and to investigate the contact patch. The compressed contact patches of solid tire on drum were compared with the validated contact patches of solid tire on the flat surface. The different results showed the effect of the drum curvature. Consequently, the diameter of the drum wheel was optimized for solid tire testing. It is interesting to note that the suitable ratio between drum diameter and solid tire diameter was 1.81.