Patent ID: 9435715
Filing Date: 2016-09-06
CPC Classification: G01M

Claim Text:
1. A method for characterizing a behavior of a vehicle that includes a body, a wheel having a wheel disc, a rim, and a tire, and a suspension device connecting the wheel to the body, the method comprising steps of: for a physical configuration of the suspension device and the wheel disc, conducting a behavior test on the vehicle to determine whether the behavior of the vehicle is acceptable in straight-line running at a stabilized speed, the physical configuration corresponding to a reference pair of conditions for a lateral force (Fy) and a lateral offset (Dy) of the wheel in straight-line running; modifying the physical configuration of the suspension device and the wheel disc a plurality of times so as to sweep through pairs of conditions presenting variations (ΔFy, ΔDy) from the reference pair of conditions for the lateral force (Fy) and the lateral offset (Dy) of the wheel in straight-line running, and, for each of the plurality of modified physical configurations of the suspension device and the wheel disc, conducting the behavior test again to determine whether the behavior of the vehicle is acceptable in straight-line running at the stabilized speed; for each physical configuration and each of the modified physical configurations of the suspension device and the wheel disc tested, determining Fy, Dy values of the lateral force (Fy) and the lateral offset (Dy) of the wheel in straight-line running at the stabilized speed; and representing, on a chart, Z-area pairs of the Fy, Dy values corresponding to acceptable configurations of the modified physical configurations and the physical configuration for which the acceptable behavior of the vehicle has been determined, the acceptable behavior being a linear response behavior in straight-line running at the stabilized speed, wherein the chart showing the Z-area pairs is utilizable to optimize at least one of: a tire structure, a wheel structure, a vehicle structure, and a selection of a wheel and a tire for the vehicle.