Patent ID: 8103489

Claim:
A tire design method comprising: (a) providing an objective function representative of tire performance; (b) performing a numerical optimization using a tire model provided by dividing a tire shape into a plurality of elements to obtain an optimal solution for a tire structure which optimizes the objective function, the optimization being performed with a tread pattern shape kept fixed; (c) performing a numerical optimization using a tire model provided by dividing the tire shape into a plurality of elements to obtain an optimal solution for the tread pattern shape which optimizes the objective function, the optimization being performed with the tire structure kept fixed, wherein performing the numerical optimization in (b) for the tire structure includes using a tire model having the tread pattern shape optimized at an immediately preceding cycle of (c), and wherein performing the numerical optimization in (c) for the tread pattern shape includes using a tire model having the tire structure optimized at an immediately preceding cycle of (b); (d) repeating (b) and (c) until convergence of the objective function takes place, convergence being determined based on optimal solutions obtained at (b) and (c); and (e) subsequent to convergence of the objective function, creating a tire design having the optimal solutions for the tread pattern shape and the tire structure.