M. Brinkmeier1 and U.

Nackenhorst2

Computational Investigations on the

Dynamics of Tires Rolling on Rough
Roads3

REFERENCE: Brinkmeier, M. and Nackenhorst, U., ‘‘Computational Investigations on

the Dynamics of Tires Rolling on Rough Roads,’’ Tire Science and Technology, TSTCA,
Vol. 37, No. 1, January – March 2009, pp. 47-59.

ABSTRACT: Finite element methods are well established for the mechanical analysis of tires
in industry. For stationary rolling contact analysis a relative kinematics description based on a
mixed spatial–material description provides a suitable framework for efficient computations of
quite detailed tire models. Despite these advantages, special effort is necessary for the reliable
treatment of tractive rolling with friction, or even when inelastic material properties have to be
considered. An additional challenge is the simulation of high-frequency response for comfort
analysis, for example.
This paper focuses mainly on the latter aspect, namely, the transient dynamics response
with respect to rolling noise prediction. The theoretical basics have been outlined in prior
publications; this presentation concentrates on a systematic analysis of the transient dynamic
behavior of rolling tires based on a modal analysis first. Based on computed eigenvectors, a
partial modal energy criterion is introduced to judge the influence of different assembly parts
on the dynamics of rolling tires. The capability of the suggested approach will be outlined in
a second part, where the transient dynamic response due to the excitation from different road
surface textures and bridge connection constructions are discussed. The sensitivity of these
computations with regard to the excitation mechanism will be shown, from which a much
higher potential in road construction regarding traffic noise reduction is concluded.
The presented results are the partial outcome of research project “Leiser Straßenverkehr
2,” funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology 共BMWi兲 and organized by
the Federal Highway Research Institute 共BAST兲. This research was performed in close coop-
eration between tire manufacturers, road construction companies, and universities.
KEY WORDS: rolling tire noise prediction, finite element methods, arbitrary Lagrangian
Eulerian, road surface texture, modal superposition

The dynamic properties of tires are of great importance with regard to

vehicle comfort and traffic noise generation. The rolling tire is excited to me-
chanical vibrations by tread profile impact, road surface roughness, and ob-
stacles. The tire structure itself transfers the vibrations into the car’s passenger
room and the surrounding air. Measurements, statistical analysis, and semiana-
lytical models have been investigated for a deeper insight into the physical

1
Presenter and corresponding author. Institute of Mechanics and Computational Mechanics,
Leibniz Universität Hannover, Appelstrasse 9A, 30167 Hannover, Germany. E-mail:
brinkmeier@ibnm.uni-hannover.de
2
Institute of Mechanics and Computational Mechanics, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Appelstrasse
9A, 30167 Hannover, Germany. E-mail: nackenhorst@ibnm.uni-hannover.de
3
Presented at the twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Tire Society, Akron, Ohio, September 2007.

47
48 TIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

mechanism of the transient dynamic tire road interaction with emphasis toward
explaining the traffic noise, cf. Refs. 关1–4兴.
In contrast, detailed finite element models taking into account the compos-
ite structural mechanics of tires, including sophisticated modeling for the con-
stitutive behavior of rubber, appear well-established in the scientific literature
and are used in the tire industry for predevelopment 关5–8兴. Despite the fact that
the physical mechanisms are described in detail and the computational effort
has been decreased significantly by advanced computational techniques, until
now these approaches have been applied to stationary rolling phenomena. The
extension of these physically based computational techniques for prediction of
the transient dynamic response of tires in rolling contact, excited from rolling
contact conditions, is the goal of current research. In this contribution some new
developments in this modeling and analytical approach are outlined.
As a sequel to an earlier paper 关9兴 about the structural dynamics and 关10兴
for the acoustics simulation, in this contribution the theory is briefly outlined.
Special emphasis is laid on the evaluation and judgment of the eigendynamics
of rolling tires, where new insight into the structural dynamic behavior is ob-
tained from detailed finite element analysis. In addition, the excitation mecha-
nism from the road surface roughness is discussed in detail and parametric
studies on different slick tires rolling on different road surfaces are presented.

Fundamental Equations of Motion

The motion of a rolling tire is described in an arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian

共ALE兲 relative kinematics framework. A spatially fixed mesh is introduced
while the material particles are moving inside the mesh. Nevertheless, the sur-
face of the mesh moves as the material boundary. The theoretical foundation of
the ALE is described in Ref. 关8兴, and recent progress on the treatment of inelas-
tic internal variables and the efficient numerical solution of the tangential con-
tact problems are reported in Ref. 关11兴. The finite element equations of motion
for a rolling tire take the form

˙ + 关Kt − W + Kc兴⌬␸ = fe共t兲 + fi − f␴ − fc .

¨ + G␸
M␸ 共1兲
Next to the standard terms mass matrix M, stiffness matrix Kt, and forces of
external fe and internal f␴ stresses, a so-called gyroscopic matrix appears with
skew-symmetric properties G = −GT. The matrix W and vector fi result from the
inertia due to rotation, while Kc and fc are contributions from the contact of the
tire with the road. For stationary rolling the time derivatives vanish and the
system of equations has to be solved iteratively for the displacements ⌬␸ in a
Newton–Raphson scheme, because nonlinear effects are included resulting from
large deformations, constitutive behavior, and changing boundary conditions.
 BRINKMEIER AND NACKENHORST ON DYNAMICS OF TIRES 49

Eigenvalue Analysis of Rolling Tires

Based on the stationary rolling equilibrium state, an eigenvalue analysis is

performed. The linearized eigenvalue problem for the gyroscopic system is
given by

冉冋 册 冋 册冊冋 册 冋 册
iG K
K 0
−␻
M 0
0 K
␻z
z
=
0
0
, 共2兲

where ␻ is the angular eigenfrequency and z is a complex valued eigenvector.

For details on the numerical solution and the gyroscopic influence on the eigen-
dynamics of spinning structures see Ref. 关12兴.
The linearized eigenproblem in state space form Eq 共2兲 is subject to the
properties of orthonormality,

冋 册 冋 册冋 册
Z⍀
Z
H
M 0
0 K
Z⍀
Z
= 1, 共3兲

where all n eigenvectors are assembled in the matrix

Z̄ = 冋 册
Z⍀
Z
, ⍀ = diag共␻i兲, Z = 关zi兴,i = 1 . . . n. 共4兲

The suffix H means Hermitian, because the computed eigenvectors for a gyro-
scopic system are complex valued. The orthonormality condition is quite useful
to judge specific mode shapes. Wamsler and Rose 关13兴 suggested a criterion to
classify the meaning of different modes by the observation of the modal kinetic
energy, for which an element-wise matrix–matrix multiplication is introduced,
denoted by 共 *兲 in the following. As a result of this operation,

Emod = 冉冋 册 冋 册冊 冋 册
Z⍀
Z
H
M 0
0 K
H
. ⴱ
Z⍀
Z
, 共5兲

instead of the identity matrix, cp. Eq 共3兲, a matrix containing all information
about the modal energy contributions of all degrees of freedom in dependence
of the frequency is obtained. This matrix provides information from which the
influence of distinct eigenmodes is computed easily. For example, mode shapes
which contribute to vibrations in a specific coordinate direction can be identified
easily by selective summation and plotting the sum against the eigenfrequency.
For the analysis of tire dynamics another criterion appears quite natural,
namely, the evaluation of different assembly parts of the composite tire struc-
ture, represented by different material groups in the finite element model. A plot
of the frequency-dependent contributions of specific assembly groups to the
total modal energy enables new insights into the dynamic behavior of rolling
tires as demonstrated below.
50 TIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 1 — Classification of modes with trend lines.

The eigenvalue distribution for a slick tire model is depicted in Fig. 1. It is

remarkable that for this tire model about 1000 eigenvalues have been computed
for the frequency range up to 1 kHz. The computational effort and the data
storage is notable. For a detailed finite element tire model with about 100 000
unknowns, the computation time on a two-processor opteron dual-core machine
is about 26 hours for all eigenvalues up to 1500 Hz, a peak value of main
memory usage of about 12 GB is recorded, and about 3.5 GB disk space for the
storage of the complex valued eigenvectors is necessary for the analysis at one
prescribed rolling speed.
Three typical trend lines are concluded from the average slopes in Fig. 1 in
which the eigenfrequency is plotted versus the eigenvalue number. At frequen-
cies below 300 Hz, belt bending modes dominate the eigendynamics of rolling
tires, while only a few 共up to 50兲 modes are found. In the frequency domain
between 300 and 800 Hz the appearance of sidewall modes gets dominant while
quite a lot of distinct modes appear in a frequency band 共the slope of the graph
decreases兲. Above 800 Hz many local modes dispersed all over the tire structure
were computed with increasing mode density per frequency slot.
This picture appears more clearly from the analysis of the eigenenergy for
different assembly groups. In Fig. 2 the total eigenenergy spectrum defined by
Eq 共5兲 is shown, where the relative contribution of tread cap, cap-ply 共which is
the composite group between tread compounds and belt package兲, liner, side-
wall, and tire surface of the model are compared. The tread cap dominates
共because of the relative mass and belt bending modes兲 at frequencies below
300 Hz. The relative eigenenergy of the sidewall increases continuously and
becomes dominant at frequencies above 350 Hz. The line for the total surface
appears quite smooth. It decreases in the range up to 350 Hz, appears nearly
constant in the range between 350 and 800 Hz, and slightly increases above
that. The cap-ply curve strongly goes with the treat cap, while the liner appears
to follow the sidewall line. This can be interpreted such that no localized dy-
 BRINKMEIER AND NACKENHORST ON DYNAMICS OF TIRES 51

FIG. 2 — Modal energy plot of tread cap, sidewall, cap-ply, liner, and tire surface.

namics appear through the thickness of the composite structure. In this graph
two peaks are observed at frequencies of about 446 and 784 Hz, where the
relative eigenenergy of the belt group breaks down while in the sidewall high
values have been computed. A more detailed analysis of this phenomenon is
discussed in Fig. 3.
In Fig. 3 the amplitudes 关root-mean-square 共rms兲 value兴 of the vibration
modes at the surface of the tire model are displayed for a continuous selection
of modes, where the largest amplitudes are coded with red color. Eigenvectors
are scaled and therefore, these pictures provide qualitative impressions on the
vibration behavior only. The dominance of the sidewall is obvious for both
frequency bands. While surrounding 450 Hz modes of order one in the height of
the sidewall are observed, order two modes are apparent at frequencies of about
790 Hz.
The proposed computational techniques of cause provide a much deeper
insight into the eigendynamics of rolling tire structures. In Fig. 4, for example,

FIG. 3 — High sidewall-mode density around 446 and 784 Hz.

52 TIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 4 — Cross sections of eigenmodes at 332, 730, and 1018 Hz.

spatial slices for eigenmodes of the tire model are shown which have been
chosen arbitrarily from the three relevant frequency domains discussed above.
However, it appears impossible to obtain an overall understanding of the physi-
cal relationships from these detailed data alone. Global criteria as suggested
above are necessary to figure out what we are seeking and to optimize the
behavior of the system.

Transient Dynamic Response due to Road Surface Texture Excitation

Based on the extracted eigenvectors a modal superposition technique is

applied for the computation of the transient dynamic response; for a theoretical
outline see Ref. 关12兴. A challenging task, however, is the constitutive modeling
of the rubber response in a large frequency range. The frequency dependencies
of the storage and loss modulus are well experienced from master curves. Tak-
ing that into account, it directly relates to the eigenvalue analysis, because the
linear eigenvalue problem is no longer valid. Here a stepwise linear approach is
suggested where a constant average Young’s modulus is applied in frequency
bands. Regarding the loss modulus it has been figured out by experience, e.g.,
from shaker tests on flattened tires 关9兴, that an overall average damping value of
about 2–3% leads to valid results.
In this first step slick tires are considered; the remaining excitation is from
the road surface texture. To reconstruct a deterministic excitation model, the
roughness from the coatings of laboratory test drums 共see Fig. 5兲 were measured
and analyzed. A major question arises regarding the penetration depth of a
rubber tire rolling over these profiles. To get an impression, the drum was
coated with a sheet of thin aluminum foil. From the remaining plastic deforma-
tions, after rolling a filter function was reconstructed and applied for the whole
surface of the drums. The filter function is constructed by a moving average
filter, where the size of the filter kernel is adjusted by surface parameters such as
 BRINKMEIER AND NACKENHORST ON DYNAMICS OF TIRES 53

FIG. 5 — Surfaces of roller drum test rigs: (left) smooth asphalt and (right) rough texture.

standard deviation, average amplitude, skewness, kurtosis, bearing ratio curve,

histogram of height distribution, and frequency spectrum fit best to the proper-
ties of the segment of deformed aluminum foil. For details on surface charac-
terization see Ref. 关14兴.
A segment of a raw surface, deformed aluminum foil, and the filtered
texture of a smooth asphalt are depicted in Fig. 6. It is clearly seen that high-
frequency/small-wavelength components vanish when rolling over aluminum
foil and are even more pronounced in the simulation, but the main characteris-
tics of the surface are preserved, especially the spatial wavelength range from
4 mm to some meters. This is important because these wavelengths excite the
tire structure in the acoustic relevant frequency spectrum when assuming nor-
mal traffic speeds.
In Fig. 5 two pictures of different pavements are shown that are used for the
roller drum test rig. The relative smooth asphalt and rough texture yield a spread
in the surface properties with the aim to also have this spread in the tire rolling
noise measurements and simulations. The complete surfaces of both drums were
measured, digitized, and filtered. Then a discrete Fourier transformation was
applied in circumferential direction, resulting in the amplitude spectra shown in
Fig. 7. The amplitudes are plotted over the spatial frequency and the
y-coordinate that is parallel to the drum axis. Both surfaces have a relative flat
plateau followed by a drop of amplitude magnitude at higher frequencies. In
y-direction the spectra are mostly similar except the area in the middle, because
at this place the tires are placed in common so there is some rubber due to wear.
The main difference can be expressed by the average amplitude that is five
times larger for the rough texture.
For validation of the methods with rolling tires, several different tire mod-
54 TIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 6 — Segments of smooth asphalt textures: (top) raw surface, (middle) deformed aluminum foil,
and (bottom) simulation of foil by filter function.
 BRINKMEIER AND NACKENHORST ON DYNAMICS OF TIRES 55

FIG. 7 — Amplitude spectra of filtered roller drum surfaces: (left) smooth asphalt and (right) rough
texture.

els were built, measured on the drum, and simulated in the computer. As an
example of the simulation results, in Fig. 8 a snapshot of the structural ampli-
tudes at the tire surface are shown for the two different tires, which are rolling
with 100 km/ h on the two different pavements. Both tires have smaller ampli-
tudes on the smooth asphalt, as is reasonable considering the excitation ampli-
tudes. The reference tire seems to have larger amplitudes in the tread cap re-
sulting from differences in the rubber mixture. Acoustic measurements in 1 m
distance to the sidewall show that the tires have similar broadband sound pres-
sure levels on the smooth asphalt, while on the rough asphalt the reference tire
is 2 dB共A兲 louder. The same tendency, namely, similar versus 3 dB共A兲 differ-
ence, is the result of the acoustics simulation. So far the computational methods
are valid in the sense of a ranking of different tires regarding their sound
radiation. However, the absolute sound pressure values are overestimated; thus,
future work has to be performed for a more detailed and realistic model of the
excitation mechanism.
In addition, bridge–road transition systems were analyzed. As a silent so-
lution, transition plates with rhombic shape, as depicted in Fig. 9, were inves-
tigated, which were developed in this collaborative research too. The distance
from one plate to the next varies between 117 and 158 mm due to seasonal
temperature changes and resulting expansion of the bridge. A model parameter
for this application is the maximal penetration depth of the tread rubber into the
gaps, which has to be determined experientially depending on plate distance and
speed. With these data the presented simulation methods can predict the dy-
namic response of tires rolling over the transition. An example is shown in Fig.
10, where it is clearly seen that the structural amplitudes for the winter position
are much larger. The sound pressure spectrum in Fig. 11 gives more details,
namely, that the transitions increase the level in the spectrum up to 500 Hz, in
comparison to the reference smooth asphalt drum without any transition plates.
The effect of the winter position dominates at lower frequencies and has a peak
56 TIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 8 — Structural amplitude on tire surface of reference/complementary tire on smooth asphalt/

rough texture, snapshot with rms values.

at 200 Hz, while the main influence of the summer position is at 300– 400 Hz.
This is due to larger plate distance and overall transition length in the winter
position.

Conclusion

Sophisticated computational methods for prediction of the transient dy-

namic response of rolling tires with emphasis on tire road noise radiation have
been presented. The dynamic response is computed by a modal superposition
approach by which small vibration amplitudes are superposed to the large de-
flections of the stationary rolling process. Special emphasis has been laid on the
 BRINKMEIER AND NACKENHORST ON DYNAMICS OF TIRES 57

FIG. 9 — Bridge road transition plates in rhombus shape, summer (top) and winter (bottom)
position.

judgment of the eigenmodes, which appear complex valued for the gyroscopic
system. A partial modal energy criterion was introduced to classify the typical
vibration behavior in different frequency bands. This criterion also enables stud-
ies on structural parameter changes regarding the dynamic response. For the
computation of the operational modes of slick tires rolling on rough pavements,
special attention was paid to the excitation mechanism generated from the rough
surface contact. The surfaces of two different coatings of a laboratory test drum
were analyzed. A filter function was generated that is based on the pattern
obtained from deformed aluminum foils in order to approximate the real contact
of the tread rubber with the rough road surface. A ranking with different tire
models was performed and compared with measured sound radiation. It is con-
cluded that the computational techniques are capable of describing the physical

FIG. 10 — Bridge road transition plates applied to test rig; winter position (left) causes higher
amplitudes and sounds louder.
58 TIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 11 — Comparison of simulated sound pressure for bridge road transitions with smooth refer-
ence surface, 1 m distance from tire surface.

mechanism and work chains correctly. The simulation gives qualitatively cor-
rect results. Future work will be focused on a more detailed modeling of the
contact mechanics for the tread rubber penetrating the rough surface on a much
smaller length scale. Those multiscale approaches can substitute for additional
experiments, e.g., for the determination of model parameters for bridge connec-
tion systems. In this context the transient dynamics tread block impact should
also be considered. Future evaluations are necessary to answer the question
regarding the linearity assumption of the proposed modal with respect to the
frequency domain and excitation amplitudes.

Acknowledgments
This work was promoted by funds from the Federal Ministry of Economics
and Technology of Germany under contract nos. 19U1055ff and 19U2005ff.
The responsibility for the content of the publication lies with the authors. Spe-
cial thanks go to the Continental AG Hannover, Department of NVH-
Engineering, for support with tire models and computational data.
 BRINKMEIER AND NACKENHORST ON DYNAMICS OF TIRES 59

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