TIRES DYNAMICS

Introduction
• The tire is the main component interacting with the road.
• The performance of a vehicle is mainly influenced by
the characteristics of its tires.
• Tires affect a vehicle’s
– Handling,
– Traction,
– Ride comfort, and
– Fuel consumption
• To understand its importance, it is enough to
remember that a vehicle can maneuver only by
longitudinal, vertical, and lateral force systems
generated under the tires. 2
 Tire coordinate system
• The x-axis is along the
intersection line of the tire-plane
and the ground.

•Tire plane is the plane made by

narrowing the tire to a flat disk.

• The z-axis is perpendicular to

the ground, opposite to the
gravitational acceleration g.

• The y-axis makes the

coordinate system a right-hand
triad.

3
The interaction of a tire with the road generates a 3D force
system including three forces and three moments, as shown in
Figure in previous slide.

1. Longitudinal force Fx. It is a force acting along the x-axis.

The resultant longitudinal force Fx > 0 if the car is
accelerating, and Fx < 0 if the car is braking. Longitudinal
force is also called forward force.

2. Normal force Fz. It is a vertical force, normal to the ground

plane. The resultant normal force Fz > 0 if it is upward.
Normal force is also called vertical force or wheel load.

3. Lateral force Fy. It is a force, tangent to the ground and

orthogonal to both Fx and Fz . The resultant lateral force Fy
> 0 if it is in the y-direction.
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4. Roll moment Mx. It is a longitudinal moment about the x-axis.
The resultant roll moment Mx > 0 if it tends to turn the tire
about the x-axis. The roll moment is also called the bank
moment, tilting torque, or overturning moment.

5. Pitch moment My. It is a lateral moment about the y-axis. The

resultant pitch moment My > 0 if it tends to turn the tire about
the y-axis and move forward. The pitch moment is also called
rolling resistance torque.

6. Yaw moment Mz. It is an upward moment about the z-axis.

The resultant yaw moment Mz > 0 if it tends to turn the tire
about the z-axis. The yaw moment is also called the aligning
moment, self aligning moment, or bore torque.

• The moment applied to the tire from the vehicle about the tire
axis is called wheel torque. 5
 Axis/Coordinate System
• Definition of rotations about axes

Follows the “right hand” rule

+Y
X-Axis Longitudinal, + = Forward
Y-Axis Lateral, + = right of center
Z-axis Vertical, + = down
+X
+Z
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Tire Axis System
Three forces
Longitudinal force Fx.

Lateral force Fy

Normal force Fz

Three moments
Overturning moment Mx.

Rolling resistance
Moment My.

Aligning Moment Mz.

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 Slip Angle(α)
• Angle between the direction of wheel heading and the direction of
travel.
• +ve slip angle corresponds to the tire moving to the right as it
advances in the forward direction
• The steer angle is the angle between the longitudinal axis of the
vehicle and the longitudinal plane of the wheel

x

Wheel velocity
y
vehicle longitudinal axis.

wheel plane
x body 
y velocity of wheel center 8
body The tire may be steered and have a slip angle
 Contact Patch
• Tireprint/ Contact patch

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 Tire-Road Interaction
• The force on a tire are not applied at a point, but are the result from
normal and shear stress distributed in the contact patch.
• The pressure distribution is under a tire is not uniform but will vary in
the x & Y direction
• Not symmetrical about the y-axis but tends to be higher in the
forward region of contact patch

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 Tire-Road Interaction
• Because of the tire visco-elasticity deformation
– The vertical pressure shifted forward
– The centroid of the vertical force not pass through
the spin axis
• Therefore generates rolling resistance.
• With the tire rolling on the road
– Tractive force Generated by
– Lateral force Shear Mechanism

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 Tire-Road Interaction
• There are 2 main mechanisms responsible for friction coupling b/n
the tire & the road
– Adhesion

– Hysteresis tire
road
• Adhesion
– is very similar to the classical notion of sliding friction. That is
molecular bonds are formed and broken through asperities in
the two materials

frictional relative motion

bonds
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 Tire-Road Interaction
• Hysteresis
– Represent the energy loss in the rubber as it deformed when sliding
over the aggregated in the road
– The road surface irregularities cause a deformation in softer tire
surface by doing work on the material.

• It is not so affected by water on the road surface, thus a better wet

traction is achieved with the tires that have high-hysteresis rubber
in the tread 13
 Tire Stiffness
• The vertical tire force Fz can be calculated as a linear function of
the normal tire deflection Δz measured at the tire center.
– Fz = kz Δz
– kz is called tire stiffness in the z-direction.
• Similarly, the reaction of a tire to a lateral and a longitudinal
force can be approximated by
– Fx = kxΔx
– Fy = ky Δy
– kx and ky are called tire
stiffness in the x and y
directions. 14
 Tire Stiffness
• Calculating the tire stiffness is generally based on experiment
• They are dependent on
– The tire’s mechanical properties
– Environmental characteristics.

Consider a vertically loaded tire on a stiff and flat ground

– The stiffness curve can be influenced by many parameters.

The most effective one is the tire inflation pressure.

15
 Tire Stiffness
• Lateral and longitudinal force/deflection behavior is also
determined experimentally by applying a force in the
appropriate direction.
• The lateral and longitudinal forces are limited by the sliding
force
• The practical part of a tire’s
longitudinal and lateral stiffness
curves is the linear part and may
be estimated by linear equations.
Fx = kxΔx
Fy = ky Δy
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 Tire Stiffness
• The coefficients kx and ky are called the tire stiffness in the x and
y directions.
• They are measured by the slope of the experimental stiffness
curves in the (Fx,Δx) and (Fy ,Δy) planes.
f f
K x  lim K  lim
x 0  ( x ) y 0  ( y )
y

Generally, a tire is most stiff in the

longitudinal direction and least stiff in
the lateral direction.
k x > kz > ky
17
 Effective Radius

• The Effective radius of the wheel Rw,

– which is also called a rolling radius, is defined by
Vx
Rw 
w
– where, vx is the forward velocity, and
ωw is the angular velocity of the wheel.
– The effective radius Rw is approximately equal to
 R g  Rh 
Rw  R g   
 3 
– Rw is a number between the unloaded or geometric radius Rg and
the loaded height Rh.
Rh < Rw < Rg 18
 Effective Radius
• The vertical stiffness of radial tires is less than non-radial tires
under the same conditions. So, the loaded height of radial tires,
Rh, is less than the non-radials.
• However, the effective radius of radial tires Rw, is closer to their
unloaded radius Rg
• As a good estimate,
– for a non-radial tire,
• Rw ≈ 0.96Rg, and Rh ≈ 0.94Rg ,
– for a radial tire,
• Rw ≈ 0.98Rg, and Rh ≈ 0.92Rg .

19
 Rolling Resistance
• A turning tire on the ground generates a longitudinal force called
rolling resistance.
• The force is opposite to the direction of motion and is
proportional to the normal force on the tire print (Contact patch).
• Fr = μr Fz= −Fr (i)
• where μr is called the rolling friction coefficient.
• μr is not constant and mainly depends on
• Tire speed, inflation pressure, sideslip and camber angles.
• It also depends on mechanical properties, wear, temperature,
load, size, driving and braking forces, and road condition.

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 Rolling Resistance
• Stationary Loaded Tires

• Rolled Tires

21
 Rolling Resistance
• Because of higher normal stress sz in the front part of the
tireprint, the resultant normal force moves forward.

• The contact pressure is asymmetrically distributed towards the

front of the tire. This can be integrated to get a resultant normal
force Fz 22
 Rolling Resistance
• structure of the tire

Thicker treads and sidewalls and an increased number of carcass plies tend
to increase the rolling resistance because of greater hysteresis losses.
Tires made of synthetic rubber compounds generally have higher rolling resistance
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than those made of natural rubber.
 Rolling Resistance
• Surface conditions
– On hard, smooth surfaces, the rolling resistance is
considerably lower than that on a rough road.
? On wet surfaces, a higher rolling resistance than on dry
surfaces ????? Refer it?

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 Rolling Resistance
• Inflation pressure
– Inflation pressure affects the flexibility of the tire
– Depending on the deformability of the ground the inflation
pressure affects the rolling resistance of the tire in different
manners.
– Rolling resistance generally decreases with the increase in
inflation pressure.
– This is because, with higher inflation pressure, the deflection
of the tire decreases, with consequent lower hysteresis losses

25
 Rolling Resistance
• Inflation pressure

26
 Rolling Resistance
• Inflation pressure
– The rolling friction coefficient μr decreases by increasing the
inflation pressure.
– The effect of increasing pressure is equivalent to decreasing normal
load Fz.
– Inflation pressure not only affects the rolling resistance, but also the tread
wear of a tire.
– The wear rate at 165 kPa
is used as a reference for comparison.

• It can be seen that the effects of inflation

pressure on tread wear are more significant for
the bias-ply and bias-belted tire than the radial-
ply tire. 27
 Rolling Resistance
Effects of improper inflation pressure
• High inflation pressure increases stiffness, which reduces
ride comfort and generates vibration.
• Tireprint and traction are reduced when tires are over
inflated.
• Over-inflation causes
– the tire to transmit shock loads to the suspension, and
– reduces the tire’s ability to support the required load for corner
ability, braking, and acceleration.

28
 Rolling Resistance
Effects of improper inflation pressure
• Under-inflation results
– in cracking and tire component separation.
– It also increases sidewall flexing and rolling resistance that causes heat
and mechanical failure.
• A tire’s load capacity is largely determined by its inflation pressure.
Therefore, under-inflation results in an overloaded tire that operates
at high deflection with a low fuel economy, and low handling.
• Proper inflation pressure is necessary for optimum tire
performance, safety, and fuel economy.

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 Rolling Resistance
• Effect of tire structure, size,
– Tire radius Rg and aspect ratio hT
/wT are the two size parameters
that affect the rolling resistance
coefficient.
– A tire with larger Rg and smaller
hT/wT has lower rolling resistance
and higher critical speed.

30
 Small and large tires
• If the driving tires are small,
– the vehicle becomes twitchy with low traction
– low top speed.

• If the driving tires are big

– the vehicle has slow steering response
– high tire distortion in turns,
– decreasing the stability

31
 Soft and Hard Tires
• Softer front tires show
– more steer ability,
– less stability, and
– more wear
• Hard front tires
– show the opposite.
• Soft rear tires have
– more rear traction,
– make the vehicle less steerable,
– more bouncy, and
– Less stable.
• Hard rear tires have
– less rear traction,
– make the vehicle more steerable,
– less bouncy, and
– more stable. 32
 Racing cars
• Racecars have very smooth tires, known as slicks.
• Smooth tires reduce the rolling friction and maximize
straight line speed.
• The slick racing tires are also pumped up to high pressure.
High pressure reduces the tire print area. Hence, the
normal stress shift reduces and the rolling resistance
decreases.

33
 Longitudinal Force
• The frictional force Fx between a tire and the road surface is
a function of
– Normal load Fz ,
– Vehicle speed vx, and
– Wheel angular speed ωw.
• In addition to these variables there are a number of
parameters that affect Fx, such as
– tire pressure, tread design, wear, and road surface.
• It has been determined empirically that a contact friction of
the form
– Fx = μx(ωw, vx)Fz
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 Tractive Properties-Acceleration
Slip ratio is 0 < s < ∞ in driving.
• When we drive, a driving moment is applied to the tire axis.
• The tread of the tire will be compressed circumstantially in
the tire print zone. Hence, the tire is moving slower than a
free tire
Rwωw < Rgωw (Rw < Rg)
• Tire contact patch moved forward relative to axle.
• a driving tire turns faster than a free tire
• Elements deform upon entering and ‘slide’ upon exit
• Largest forces at exit.
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 Tractive Properties-Acceleration

Zero Acceleration
• The tire speed Rwωw equals vehicle speed vx only if acceleration is
zero.
• In this case, the normal force acting on the tire and the size of the
tire print are constant in time. No element of the tire print is
slipping on the road.
100% Slip
• This is often observed on an icy surface, where the driven
tires are spinning at high angular speeds, while the vehicle
does not move forward.
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 Tractive Properties-Braking

• Contact patch moves rearward relative to axle.

• Force builds up as elements move rearward and become
deformed.
• Elements ‘slide’ out the rear of the contact patch
• Slip ratio is −1 < s < 0 in braking.
– When we brake, a braking moment is applied to the wheel axis.
– The tread of the tire will be stretched circumstantially in the
tireprint zone. Hence, the tire is moving faster than a free tire
• Rwωw > Rgωw (Rw > Rg)

37
Tractive Properties-Braking

The peak value of force occurs at

About 10-15% of total slip

peak unstable

stable
Force - slip curves
slip
38
1.0
 Tractive Properties-Braking

• In the stable region,

– an increase in braking torque (from disk/drum brakes) leads to an increase
in wheel slip and hence an increase in longitudinal force.
– A decrease in brake torque decrease in slip decrease in long force.
• In the unstable region,
– an increase in brake torque increase in slip decrease in
longitudinal force.
– A decrease in brake torque decrease in slip increase in
longitudinal force (and hence less slip).

39
 Tractive Properties-Braking

• Therefore, once the tire longitudinal slip transitions from the

stable to unstable region, the tire road system rapidly
progresses to “wheel lockup” faster than most humans can
control.
• In the stable region, it is relatively easy for a person to control
the amount of braking effort (i.e. longitudinal force) put out.

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CHAPTER TWO

The End