Numerical Investigations on Steady-State Dynamic and Transient Rolling of Automobile Tire

Tire models play an essential role in virtual prototyping of ground vehicles and can be used to analyze the effect of various conditions that the tire will be subjected to. This paper analyzes steady-state dynamic rolling and transient rolling of a tire (upon impact with a curb). As explicit dynamic procedure requires small stable time increment, quasi-static and steady-state loading requires large time scale increment, using of Abaqus/Standard seems to be economical over Abaqus/Explicit. If a steady-state rolling is performed in Abaqus/Explicit, experiment cost increases directly proportional to the rolling speed, and if the same is performed on Abaqus/Standard, then experiment cost minimizes as it is independent of rolling speed. An axis-symmetric model of a tire is developed using Abaqus CAE. The 3D model is developed using symmetric model generation feature in Abaqus. Material properties have been then assigned to the various sections of the tire model. The stress distribution results have been shown by using von-Mises criterion.