TITLE:
Development and Validation of a Scaled Electric Combat Vehicle Tire Model
AUTHORS:
Haniyeh Fathi, Aricha Mehrotra, Zeinab El-Sayegh
KEYWORDS:
Tire Modeling, Tire Testing Machine, Vehicle Dynamics, Unmanned Vehicle Modeling, Finite Element Analysis, Tire Mechanics
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Engineering and Technology,
Vol.12 No.1,
January
4,
2024
ABSTRACT: Pneumatic tire modeling and validation have been the
topic of several research papers, however, most of these papers only deal with
pneumatic passenger and truck tires. In recent years, wheeled-scaled vehicles have gained lots of attention as a feasible testing platform,
nonetheless up to the authors’ knowledge there has been no research regarding
the use of scaled tires and their effect on the overall vehicle performance
characteristics. This paper presents a novel scaled electric combat vehicle
tire model and validation technique. The pro-line lockdown tire size
3.00 × 7.35 is modeled using the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) technique and
several materials including layered membrane, beam elements, and Mooney-Rivlin
for rubber. The tire-rim assembly is then described, and the rigid body
analysis is presented. The tire is then validated using an in-house custom-made
static tire testing machine. The tire test rig is made specifically to test the
pro-line tire model and is designed and manufactured in the laboratory. The
tire is validated using vertical stiffness and footprint tests in the static
domain at different operating conditions including several vertical loads. Then
the tire is used to perform rolling resistance and steering analysis including
the rolling resistance coefficient and the cornering stiffness. The analysis is
performed at different operating conditions including longitudinal speeds of 5,
10, and 15 km/h. This tire model will be further used to determine the tractive
and braking performance of the tire. Furthermore, the tire test rig will also
be modified to perform cornering stiffness tests.