A New Approach for the Thermomechanical Analysis of Tires by the Finite Element Method

Abstract

Abstract A new approach for the complete thermomechanical analysis of a pneumatic tire to estimate cyclic changes in the stresses and strains and obtain the pseudo-steady state temperature profile in a tire rolling under a load is described. The approach uses a commercially available finite element code and involves a simplified two-dimensional representation of the tire geometry to reduce computation time. The analysis includes three stages: inflation analysis, contact analysis, and temperature analysis. To handle the large deformations resulting from the inflation and contact loadings, the load is applied in small increments and a linearly elastic deformation is assumed in each increment. The structural and temperature analyses can be coupled through an iterative process to reflect the effect of temperature changes on material properties. Results obtained indicate that in spite of the simplifying assumptions made to reduce computation time, useful approximations to the solution of this complex problem can be obtained.