A Fatigue Evaluation Method for Radial Tire Based on Strain Energy Density Gradient

Abstract

Vehicle tires are major components that are subjected to fatigue loading and their durability is of economic interest as it is directly related to the safety of property and the life of producers and consumers. Tire durability is also a major issue of energy conservation and environmental protection. This research aims to establish a reasonable fatigue evaluation and optimization method that effectively improves tire fatigue life. In the study, 11.00R20 and 12.00R20 all-steel radial truck tires were the research objects, and the guiding hypothesis for the research was that “the maximum area of ​​the strain energy density gradient modulus corresponds to the initial failure area, its direction corresponds to the crack propagation direction, and also the maximum strain energy value is inversely proportional to the tire fatigue life.” Through finite element analysis and durability test, the strain energy density gradient was determined as tire fatigue evaluation index, and the hypothesis of tire fatigue life prediction was validated. At the same time, the sensitivities of strain energy gradient to the tire structure parameters were calculated. Besides, the relationship between the structure parameters and the fatigue life was as well established in this paper. This study has formulated a tire fatigue evaluation method and proposed an effective optimization method for enhancing tire fatigue life. The results obtained are of high application value in offering guidance for tire structural design and useful for refining the fatigue failure theory of truck radial tires and improving durability.