An investigation of intelligent tires using multiscale modeling of cord-rubber composites

A computational model based on the multiscale progressive failure analysis is employed to provide the theoretical predictions for damage development in the cord-rubber composites in tires. Vulcanized rubber, reinforcing belts, and carcass used in tire structures cause the anisotropic behavior under different loading conditions. Steel reinforcement layers made of steel wires combined with rubber complicate the macro-scale finite element modeling of tires. This paper presents a new three-dimensional model of the cord-rubber composite used in tires in order to predict the different types of damage including matrix cracking, delamination, and fiber failure based on the micro-scale analysis. Additionally, intelligent tires have the potential to be widely used to enhance the safety of road transportation systems, and this paper provides an estimation of the effects of void volume fraction, fiber volume fraction, and stacking sequence of the cord-rubber composites on the acceleration profile of the tire measured at the inner-liner.