Exploring new fields of virtual load prediction by accurate tire simulation for large deformations and flexible rim support
Authors: Baecker M. , Gallrein A. , Heim R. 
Published: October 2011

During the past ten years, there has been a significant trend in automotive design using low aspect ratio tires and increasingly run‐flat tires as well. In recent publications, the influence of those tire types on the dynamic loads – transferred from the road through the wheel into the car – have been examined pretty extensively, including comparative wheel force transducer measurements as well as computational results. It can be shown that the loads to the vehicle tend to increase when using low aspect ratio tires and particularly when using run‐flat tires. These tires provide higher stiffnesses while simultaneously introducing larger nonlinearities in the sidewall behavior [1–3]. Depending on manufacturer and the combination of vehicle size and wheel properties, these deformations can be so large that the tire belt and/or sidewall have contact with the rim crown (protected by the tire sidewall). The full vehicle simulation on virtual proving grounds is well established and important for the vehicle product development process. One of the most important subsystems in the virtual load assessment process, using full vehicle simulation is the tire model. The precision of that is essential for the overall accuracy of the virtual method. So the tendencies described above strongly require adaptations and improvements in the field of tire modeling. In 2007, Fraunhofer LBF together with Honda R&D started to examine the influences of low aspect ratio and run flat tires for the accuracy of full vehicle simulation results for durability relevant scenarios [3–5]. Those activities were the starting point for a four years joint activity to extend the usability of the virtual load prediction method by full vehicle simulation to application for which strong nonlinearities in the tire (large very transient deformation), but also in the vehicle model itself occur. As a part of that joint development, this paper summarizes the activities of Fraunhofer LBF to develop a dedicated tire model, which can accurately handle very large deformations of the tire up to misuse‐like applications. The model is based on the LBF tire model CDTire. In the first chapter several nonlinear extensions of the belt and sidewall model will be described which have been implemented to capture the large deformation behavior. These model extensions are also taking into account the belt‐to‐sidewall and sidewall‐to‐rim contact. To validate and to parameterize these model extensions, Fraunhofer LBF built a dedicated flat track test rig, which can be used to realize “roll‐over‐cleat” experiments using huge obstacles, so that belt‐to‐sidewall and sidewall‐to‐rim contact can be forced. This test rig will be described in chapter 2. The third chapter is dealing with the interface of the new tire model to a flexible rim. While the load transfer from road via tire into the vehicle is relatively easy to detect, for example by using wheel force transducers, the local forces acting on the rim flanges as well as on the wheel well (when e. g. passing a curb) are much more difficult to detect (in measurement as well as in simulation). LBF developed a method to detect local tire‐to‐rim interface forces and manage flexible rim simulation in Multi‐Body‐Simulation (LMS Virtual. Lab Motion – [6]). One key issue of the overall method is the capability of the tire model to predict local rim forces on the rim flanges in a suitable way. The second key issue is to combine the tire with a model of a flexible rim (which is embedded in a full vehicle MBS model). This method can be used to perform virtual load prediction of local, transient rim forces, which are the basis for CAE based fatigue life prediction of wheels applying typical durability test track and abuse load events.