Simulation of tyre dynamic behaviour using various finite element techniques

Pneumatic tyres play an important role in the overall performance of vehicle dynamics. Force and moment (F&M) characteristics generated at the tyre-road contact interface during various vehicle operating conditions such as cornering, braking and combined cornering-cum-braking play a crucial role in the vehicle handling performance. Experimental techniques to determine tyre dynamic characteristics are expensive, cumbersome and time consuming as total testing facilities are only available at a few places on the globe. Simulations of tyre dynamic behaviour during cornering, braking and combined cornering-cum-braking conditions using implicit and explicit Finite Element (FE) solution techniques are presented in this paper. Mixed Lagrangian Eulerian computational domain is also considered with the implicit FE technique in addition to the Lagrangian computational domain. ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit, the popular non-linear FE codes are used to simulate different dynamic conditions of a radial tyre. The simulation results from all the FE techniques are compared with the experimental F&M characteristics. The implicit solution procedure with the mixed Lagrangian Eulerian computational domain is found to be the most efficient and cost effective tool to simulate stead), state behaviour. Computational resources form a major limitation with both the implicit and explicit dynamic procedures. Numerical noise and hourglassing are the major limitations of the explicit FE technique.