Simplified modelling and eigenvalue analysis of coupling system between tire and wheel

Abstract

The demands for reduction of noise, vibration and harshness in the vehicle are getting increased in these years. In order to achieve the demands, the most efficient way is to reduce the input to the vehicle body. There are many investigations of the dynamic response of tire and suspension systems for reduction of the input from road surface to the vehicle body. Earlier studies presented improvement of the spectrum of roadnoise by the adjustment of tire - wheel system's eigenvalue. Thus, it is important to consider how to control the natural frequencies. In this paper, we present a new tire - wheel model for the prediction of natural frequencies below 200Hz using three-dimensional tire ring - wheel cylinder model. The ring represents the tread including belt, the springs represents the tire sidewall stiffness and the cylinder represents the wheel including the tire bead. The equation of motion of lateral, longitudinal and radial vibration on the tread are derived based on the assumption of inextentional deformation. Many of the associated numerical parameters are identified from experimental tests. Unlike most ring models, which only consider radial, circumferential mode, the presented model also predicts lateral bending mode. Impact tests have been conducted to confirm the theoretical findings. The results show reasonable agreement with the predictions.