29th Annual Business Meeting and Conference on Tire Science and Technology

Doubletree Hotel Akron/Fairlawn: Akron, OH, USA

Monday, September 20, 2010: 3:45 PM
Aspen Ballroom (Doubletree Hotel Akron/Fairlawn)
Robert Wheeler, Akron Technical Center, Hankook Tire, Uniontown, OH
This research addresses modeling of material damping at the component level of tires for vibration simulations in the low to mid frequency range (0 to ~200 Hz) using finite element analysis (FEA).  Historically in these simulations, damping has been assumed or measured at the global level of the tire and therefore has provided limited usefulness for virtual design processes.  The proposed method introduces an implementation of the material loss moduli at the component level to complement existing material storage moduli and density implementations.  It therefore introduces the capability to predict tire damping and making it useful for design and tuning.  Testing and analysis techniques developed previously to measure and characterize material storage moduli at vibratory strains are revisited to include the material loss moduli.  The vibratory loss moduli are included into FE models used for vibration simulations in a manner parallel to existing vibratory storage moduli.  The technique is first validated on single elastomeric compounds with good correlation achieved between measured and predicted frequency response functions (FRF’s) of dual-lap shear specimen modal tests.  The technique is then applied to a full tire FE model with multiple compounds and validated with good correlation between measured and predicted FRF’s from the unloaded portion of the SAE-J2710 modal test.