A simplified tire model based on a rotating shell

A number of simplified models of rotating tires have been suggested in the past. The belt had been modelled as a cylindrical shell, almost exclusively having simply supported boundary conditions. Such models are unable to represent certain groups of mode shapes due to the assumed zero radial displacements at the ends of the tire belt. In this paper, a model using free boundary conditions is reported. The developed model is able to approximate mode shapes that are similar to Rayleigh and Love symmetric and antisymmetric mode shapes. Mode shapes, natural frequencies and their veering with rotation speed are calculated exactly.