Numerical Simulation of tire Traction on Various Road Conditions

Abstract

Abstract The tire is the only point of contact between the car and the road and the traction is drastically changed by the road condition. Since the critical functions performed by the tire are determined by a tiny contact interface, the numerical simulation has been pursued to analyze the tire traction on various road conditions. The numerical simulation of tire traction on various road conditions such as ice, snow, water and soil are a very challenging problem, because these involve fluid-structure interaction, tire-road contact analysis and difficulty of tire pattern modeling. In this paper, the study on the numerical simulation of tire traction on various road conditions is reviewed. The tire is analyzed by FEM with Lagrangian formulation and the interfacial material is analyzed by FVM with Eulerian formulation. Since the tire and the interfacial material are modeled separately and their coupling is automatically computed by the coupling element, the tire-interfacial material interaction of the complex geometry, such as the tire with the tread pattern, can be analyzed practically. Since the prediction of tire traction is verified to be in good agreement with experiment, this technology has been started applying the development of tire pattern design. This tool will be one of the key technologies to shorten the period of development. Lastly, future works for this simulation technology are proposed.