M. Shiraishi, H. Yoshinaga, A. Miyori, and E.

Takahashi 1

Simulation of Dynamically Rolling Tire 2

REFERENCE: Shiraishi, M., Yoshinaga, H., Miyori, A., and Takahashi, E., "Simulation of
Dynamically Rolling Tire," Tire Science and Technology, Tire Science and Technology,
TSTCA, Vol. 28, No. 4, October-December 2000, pp. 264-276.

ABSTRACT: The dynamically rolling tire is simulated by using an explicit finite element
method. In this simulation, the complicated pattern shape and internal construction of the tire
are modeled exactly since both these factors are very important for the performance properties
of the tire. A very long calculation time is necessary for refined tire models, but, for practical
tire development, the calculation time of this simulation is acceptable because of major
advances in hardware, FEM software, and modeling techniques.
The authors describe the model used in the simulation and report on the results of several
properties under various rolling conditions of the tire evaluated by this method. The
correlation between the simulation and the experiment appears good. Therefore, this
simulation technique can be assumed very useful for actual tire development.

KEY WORDS: tire, finite element method, simulation

In recent years computer simulation by the finite element method (FEM) has
been commonly used for decreasing the cost and time of development by
minimizing trial making and testing in the development of many industrial
products.
In the case of tire development, many types of FEM simulations have been
performed to date, but in most of them, tire models were either static or simplified
models [1]. Through the use of these simulations, we can investigate basic tire
properties, such as dimensions, stiffness, contact pressure distribution, and
endurance. However, the important items in actual tire development are running
tire properties, such as cornering, wear, wet grip, noise, and vibration. Therefore
to simulate these it is necessary to model the dynamically rolling tire.
In considering running properties of a tire, the tread pattern effect is very
important, but the pattern configuration of a tire is so complicated that its
modeling is difficult and requires multiple elements. This requires a long time for
modeling and calculation, so that to date such a simulation has not been a very
practical tool for actual tire development.

1 Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd., 2-1-1 Tsutsui-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 651, Japan.
2 Presented at the eighteenth annual conference of the Tire Society, Akron, Ohio, April 27-28, 1999.

264
 SHIRAISHI ET AL. ON ROLLING TIRE DYNAMICS 265

FIG. 1 - - M o d e l for the dynamically rolling tire simulation.

Due to major advances in hardware, FEM software, and modeling techniques,

such a simulation is now becoming practical. In this paper, the authors report on
the simulation of a rolling tire under 3D dynamic conditions using an explicit
FEM code known as LS-DYNA [2]. The results of these simulations under
several rolling conditions are discussed. In these particular models, the compli-
cated pattern shape and the internal construction are defined exactly.

FEM Modeling
The model for the dynamically rolling tire simulation is shown in Fig. 1. The
tire model consists of the pattern component and the body component, and the
road model is added. The sectional construction and shape of the body part is
uniform around the circumference, but in the pattern component, the sectional
shape is not uniform, so the tire model is divided into two parts. The element size
of the body part is larger than that of the pattern part so the inside nodes of the
pattern part are restrained relative to the surface of the body. The road is modeled
by rigid plane elements.
The cut section of the tire FEM model is shown in Fig. 2. The shape of the
pattern part is so complicated that it is defined by tetrahedron solid elements,
designed using a 3D-CAD system and meshed semi-automatically.
The fiber-reinforced rubber (FRR) as carcass or belt is included in the body
component. The FEM modeling of the FRR part is shown in Fig. 3. Each layer
266 TIRE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

B Band

!
Carcass

Bead ~ ~

FIG. 2 -- Cut section of the tire FEM model.

is modeled by membrane elements for fiber and solid elements for rubber.
Membrane elements are quadrilateral and are defined using orthotropic behavior.
As an alternative, the layered FRR parts can be modeled as composite shell
elements for the purpose of reducing computer calculation time. However, this is
not suitable because such a model cannot express each FRR behavior that is very
important in predicting tire performance. The authors therefore use a detailed
simulation model comprising both membrane and solid elements. The rubber part
of the body, including the FRR, is composed of hexahedron solid elements.
Material behavior is assumed to be linear for the simulations reported in this
study. Damping behavior is defined for rubber parts using the Maxwell
three-element model shown in Fig. 4.

Membrane (Orthotropic)
Fiber Rubber

7////

FIG. 3 -- FEM modeling of fiber-reinforced rubber.

 SHIRAISHI ET AL. ON ROLLING TIRE DYNAMICS 267

Gt

GO

FIG. 4 --Maxwell three-element model.

It is normal to use a reduced integration method for reducing calculation time.

However, it is difficult to define hourglass control for calculation stability, and
sometimes it causes the stiffness to change. The authors therefore use the
full-integrated method.

wheel width set Load

FIG. 5 - - Boundary conditions for the rolling tire simulation.
268 TIRE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 6 -- Cornering simulation.

Simulation Process
The boundary conditions are applied to the tire and road model shown in Fig.
5. The center of the tire is fixed, but it is possible to rotate. At first, the bead part
is moved to the wheel set position, and the tire is inflated by even face pressure;
then it is loaded by moving the road up. In the next step, the road is moved at the
defined speed. For the cornering simulation, the road is moved to the direction of
the applied slip angle, and for the braking simulation, braking torque is applied
to the center of the tire. The tire rolls by the friction between the tire and road
surface.
The following are some simulation examples. The calculation time of each of
them is from 10 to 30 hours by using the explicit FEM code LS-DYNA and an
NEC-SX4 super computer.

500
Time(sec)
o
0:02 0.04 . 0.1 0.12 0.141
-500
0.0deg slip
-1ooo
-15oo

~ -2000 1.0deg slip

-2500
4.0deg slip
-3000 "~ 2.0deg slip
6.0deg slip
-3500
-4000
FIG. 7 - - Change of CF with time.
 SHIRAISHI ET AL. ON ROLLING TIRE DYNAMICS 269

-500
-1000 Calcu.lation
Z
-1500
-2000
-2500
-3000
-3500
-4000
-4500 I i f i I I

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0

Slip angle (deg)
FIG. 8 - - Change of CF with slip angle.

Cornering Simulation
For the cornering simulation, the road model is moved in the direction of the
applied slip angle at the defined speed shown in Fig. 6, and the friction coefficient
between the tire and road is defined as 0.9. The tire model is the same as
described above.
The result of cornering simulation is as described below. The tire is a
235/45ZR17 LM701 (made by Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.), and other
conditions are an 8JJ wheel, 220 kPa inner pressure, and 50 km/h applied speed.

-1000

e Calcu.lation
z
8
-1500

-2OOO I f p

30130.0 4000.0 5000.0 6000.0 7000.0

Load(N)
FIG. 9 -- Change of CF at 1.O~ slip angle with load.
270 TIRE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

. . . . . . II

FIG, 1 0 - Section showing tire deformation at contact center at 4.0 ~ slip angle cornering.

The change of CF cornering force (CF) at a 4500 N load with time is shown
in Fig. 7. The absolute value of CF increases as the road moves and becomes
steady, when the slip with the road is balanced with the tire deformation.
The steady CF results from this simulation, and the experiment are compared
in Figs. 8 and 9. The change of CF with slip angle is shown in Fig. 8. The

FIG, 11 - - C o n t a c t pressure distribution of the simulation at 4.0 ~ slip angle cornering.

 SHIRAISHI ET AL. ON ROLLING TIRE DYNAMICS 271

FIG. 12 -- Wear energy distribution at 4.0 ~ slip angle cornerOzg.

correlation between the simulation and the experimental data appears good. At 0 ~
of slip angle, there is a small CF called plysteer, which is caused by the coupling
effect of the belts and in this simulation is well expressed. The change of CF at
1~ of slip angle with load is shown in Fig. 9. There is a little difference between
prediction and experiment, but the change in CF with load is similar. In this
simulation, such nonlinearity is also well expressed. The sectional tire deforma-
tion at contact center under 4.0 ~ slip angle cornering is shown in Fig. 10. We can
see the behavior of all parts of the tire, which is very useful for tire design.
The contact pressure distribution of the simulation at 4.0 ~ slip angle cornering is
shown in Fig. 11. It is clear from this result that there is a high contact pressure area
at the outside of cornering and a large deformation of the block at the rear side.

Wear Energy Simulation

When a tire is rolling, it is eventually worn out by slip with the road surface.
It is possible to calculate wear energy, which is an integrated multiple value of
slip distance and shear force from the leading edge to the trailing edge, in a very
272 TIRE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 13 -- Wear energy distribution under braking.

short time step. Distribution of wear energy is very useful for tire designers
because they can estimate wear performance before actual tire testing, which is
normally difficult and takes a long time.
Examples of wear energy calculations under the influence of cornering and
braking are shown in Figs. 12 and 13. The tire is a 235/45ZR17 LM602 (made
by Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.), an 8JJ wheel, 220 kPa inflation pressure,
4500 N load, and 50 km/h applied speed. The conditions are 4.0 ~ slip angle
cornering in Fig. 12 and 900 N of applied braking force in Fig. 13. It is clear that
the wear energy is high at the outside of the block under cornering and the front
side of the block under braking. The correlation between the simulation and the
experimental data appears good.

Truck and Bus Tire Simulation

It is also possible to apply this rolling simulation to truck and bus (TB) fires
that are used under high pressure and heavy load conditions.
The sample FEM model for the TB fire simulation is shown in Fig. 14. The tire
in this example is an 1IR22.5 SP650 (made by Sumitomo Rubber Industries
Ltd.). A TB tire is obviously larger than a passenger car tire, so many elements
are necessary to express its pattern shape all around the tire. In this case, only a
part of the circumference is modeled to reduce calculation time.
 SHIRAISHI ET AL. ON ROLLING TIRE DYNAMICS 273

FIG. 14 - - F E M model f o r the TB tire simulation.

FIG. 15 - - Wear energy distribution of the TB tire simulation under braking.

274 TIRE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 16 - - F E M model for the studless winter tire simulation.

For the wear energy simulation, the braking force is applied to the model. The
conditions are a 7.50 X 22.5 wheel, 700 kPa inner pressure, 27 260 N load, 50
km/h speed, and 5456 N applied braking force. The wear energy distribution of
this simulation is shown in Fig. 15. It is clear that the wear energy is a little higher
at the front side of the block in this condition. The tire designers can confirm the
level of heel and toe wear by this simulation before trial tire making and testing.
This technique therefore can have a very significant effect for TB tire design.

Knife brade

Open

FIG. 17 - - Sipe modeling,

 SHIRAISHI ET AL. ON ROLLING TIRE DYNAMICS 275

FIG. 18 - - Contact pressure distribution of the studless winter tire,

Studless Winter Tire Simulation

There are many sipes used in a winter studless tire for driving on snow- or
ice-covered roads. The rolling simulation technique has the ability to consider the
effect of these sipes.
The sample FEM model for the studless winter tire simulation is shown in Fig.
16. The tire is a 195/65R15 HS-3 (made by Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.).
In this example only a part of the circumference is modeled to reduce calculation
time because many elements are necessary to mesh such a very complicated
pattern for the entire circumference.
The sipe modeling is shown in Fig. 17. The contact effect is defined for both
of the opposing faces, and then the sipe behavior of opening and closing can be
well expressed.
The rolling simulation is applied to this model. The conditions are a 6.0JJ
wheel, 200 kPa inner pressure, 4340 N load, 50 km/h speed, and 868 N of applied
braking force. The contact pressure distribution of this simulation is shown in
Fig. 18. It is clear that the contact length of the rear side is longer than that of the
front side and the contact pressure is higher at the front side of the block and the
276 TIRE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

rear side of the sipe under braking. Such results are reasonable from general
experience and very useful for studless tire design.

Summary
The authors simulate the dynamically rolling tire by using an explicit FEM
code LS-DYNA. The results of this simulation agree with the experiments or are
reasonable from general experience. As a result, tire designers can estimate
several tire performance characteristics by using this simulation before trial tire
making and testing begins. Although the calculation time is long, between 10 to
30 hours, this is acceptable during the tire development phase. Consequently, this
simulation can be considered a very useful tool for actual tire development.

References
[1] Hashimoto,M., Yoshinaga, H., et al., "Three-DimensionalFinite ElementAnalysis of Loaded
Tires," NEC Research & Development, Vol. 35, No. 4, 1994.
[2l "LS-DYNAUSER'S MANUAL,"LivermoreSoftwareTechnologyCorporation(USA)and The
Japan Research Institute,Limited(Japan).