A New Design Tool for Tire Braking Performance Evaluations

The objective of this study is to understand the influence of high frequency tire vibrations induced due to road disturbances and brake torque cycling due to anti-lock braking system (ABS) on braking performance. Under these conditions, transient dynamics of the tire play a crucial role in the generation of braking force. To implement this, a dynamic tire model was developed using a rigid ring tire and a tandem elliptical cam design for the enveloping model. This tire model is validated using experimental data obtained from high-speed cleat tests on a fixed axle. The validated tire model is then integrated with a quarter vehicle and a commercial grade rule-based ABS model to evaluate braking performance with and without a road cleat, which can provide a high frequency disturbance. Simulation results show that the presence of a 1 cm cleat causes large variations in wheel slip, consequently increasing the braking distance. The developed tool will help both tire and vehicle manufactures for quick and early evaluation of braking performance without computationally intensive finite element analysis (FEA) tools.