An investigation towards intelligent tyres using finite element analysis

Intelligent tyres have the potential to be widely used to enhance the safety of road transportation systems by providing an estimation of the road surface friction, tyre load and several other important characteristics. Since the tyre-road contact characteristics play an important role in stability and control of vehicles under severe manoeuvers, tyre interaction with the road surface needs to be evaluated in the contact patch region. In this research, a finite element model is implemented to investigate the effects of different parameters, including vehicle velocity and normal load, on the projected contact patch area. Furthermore, a tyre with a tri-axial accelerometer attached to its inner-liner is tested on different road surfaces with different contact frictions and at different loading conditions. To validate the model, the radial and circumferential accelerations obtained from the simulation are compared with the experimental results. The effects of velocity, normal load and coefficient of friction on the contact patch area are investigated and it is concluded that the circumferential component of acceleration is the key factor for estimating the tyre contact patch length.