1. Field of the Invention
This invention is a method of calculating how changes in tire morphology impact the tire cornering stiffness by using a subscale specimen in the shape of a cylinder instead of a full-size tire.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a vehicle is traveling in a straight line down the road, the tire's contact patch and the rim are aligned. However, when the driver turns the steering wheel, this causes the contact patch of the tire to shift laterally and to twist relative to the rim. This is illustrated graphically in
Test devices and methods have been developed using subscale cylindrical laminates (hereafter, referred to as cylinders) formed from general rubber composite plies and/or the actual treatment used to make a tire to predict how changes in the tire construction would impact tire cornering stiffness. The invention is directed at measuring the lateral and rotational stiffness of the cylinder. An objective is to use these cylinders as surrogates for full-size tires to measure how changes in the tire crown construction influence tire performance. Building full-sized tires for testing is costly and often it is difficult isolate the contribution of a specific physical mechanism with respect to tire performance.
The cylinder 10 can be made with a plurality of major components as shown in cross-section in
There are two different test devices that have been developed for testing the cylinder. Device 20 is shown in
Device 20
Device 20 is a multi-axial load frame capable of generating linear motion in two perpendicular axes. The device has a base 33 and parallel support rails 32. The cylinder 10 can be inflated to the appropriate working pressure and is sealed by end plates 28, which are secured with spherical ended rods 29 by fitting into a spherical receiver cup (not shown) in each end plate. The spherical ended rods 29 are able to accommodate multiple cylinder sizes. In order to inflate the cylinder, one of the end plates has an attachment point for an air line (not shown) attached to a pressure regulator (not shown). The spherical rods 29 do not allow the cylinder to move laterally, but they still allow rotation along their centerline if induced during the test. The bottom support 27 attaches to a circular loading plate 31 which has a roughened surface to simulate the road surface that would be in contact with the bottom of the cylinder. The top support 34 also attaches to a similar circular loading plate 31′ but does not require a roughened surface as it does not simulate the road surface. Computer simulations show these boundary conditions most closely approximate the rim and tire assembly on a vehicle. The vertical actuator 25 is used to apply the simulated vehicle load to the cylinder and it is fixed in place laterally. The horizontal actuator 22 is prevented from moving in the vertical direction by linear bearing plate 21 that straddles top support 24, but the actuator is allowed to move laterally as indicated by the arrow. A load cell 23 is installed to record the amount of force required to displace the actuator 22. Throughout testing, the vertical actuator 25 that applies the simulated vehicular load may move vertically to maintain the load. Support rails 32 with slots 30 allow the allow the centerline of the cylinder to move vertically, but not twist or move laterally.
The test method using device 20 is as follows:
Apply constant vertical load. As a first order approximation, it can be assumed that each tire on a four-wheeled vehicle supports approximately one-fourth of the load. This load is maintained at a constant value throughout the test.
Move actuator 22 back and forth in a triangular wave form. The magnitude of motion could be selected based on experience designing tires, use of a finite element model, or simply selecting a large value which would encompass the operating conditions. The frequency of motion is dictated by the capabilities of the hydraulic control system. Typically this frequency is less than 1 Hz.
The cycling motion can be repeated for any number of cycles. Usually, between ten and twenty are sufficient to allow the cylinder to reach steady state operation. The hydraulic actuators 22 and 25 are controlled by a computer-based control system with electronic feedback. The position of the horizontal actuator 22 is varied based on the triangular wave form described earlier. The load and position of the horizontal actuator 22 are monitored with load cell 23 and a displacement transducer that is incorporated into the load cell. The position of the vertical actuator 25 is changed to keep the vertical load constant and is measured using a displacement transducer that is incorporated into load cell 26.
All data signals (vertical load, vertical displacement, horizontal load, and horizontal displacement) are collected using a digital data acquisition system. When the testing is complete, the data can be further processed for analysis. The best way to compare the performance of two cylinders is to plot lateral load on the y-axis and the lateral displacement on the x-axis. The data will form a loop and the more vertically oriented the loop, the higher the lateral stiffness of the tire made using the cylinder construction would be. Therefore, a tire designer could use results from these test to select the construction which would yield the desired lateral stiffness.
Device 30
Device 30 as shown schematically in
The test method using device 30 is as follows:
All data signals (vertical load, vertical displacement, torque, and angular motion) are collected using a digital data acquisition system. When the testing is complete, the data can be further processed for analysis. The best way to compare the performance of two cylinders is to plot torque on the y-axis and the angular motion on the x-axis. The data will form a loop and the more vertically oriented the loop, the higher the lateral stiffness of the tire made using the cylinder construction would be. Therefore, a tire designer could use results from these test to select the construction which would yield the desired rotational stiffness.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61835213 | Jun 2013 | US |