Title: Effects of steering dynamics upon tyre lateral forces on deformable surfaces

Authors: Jaroslaw Pytka

Addresses: Lublin University of Technology, Institute of Automotive Engineering, 20-618 Lublin, Nadbystrzycka 36, Poland

Abstract: Tyre lateral force is one of the most important parameters of the tyre and is critical for vehicles handling and stability performance. For wheeled off-road vehicles, the effects of deformable surface on tyre performance must be considered. This paper presents a study on tyre lateral force measurement on three different deformable surfaces: loess soil, sandy soil and wet snow. The lateral force was measured on two front wheels of a light SUV by means of two 6-element Rotating Wheel Dynamometers (RWDs). The front wheels of the vehicle were turned by a steering robot installed in the vehicle to obtain repeatable excitation of the wheels at various angular speeds (100, 500 and 1500 deg/s) and frequencies (0.5, 1 and 2.5 Hz). During measurements, the test vehicle was pulled by a tractor vehicle of a significantly higher weight to ensure linear movement. This paper presents and discusses the tyre lateral force results and characteristics.

Keywords: off-road vehicles; tyre-soil interaction; tyre-snow interaction; tyre lateral forces; measurements; steering dynamics; deformable surfaces; tyre performance; loess soil; sandy soil; wet snow; SUVs; steering robots.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2014.058479

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2014 Vol.64 No.2/3/4, pp.170 - 194

Received: 28 Feb 2011
Accepted: 09 Sep 2011
Published online: 30 Oct 2014 *

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