Begin your journey in the field of vehicle dynamics! This webinar introduces one of the most complex systems to model: tires! The course starts with an introduction to the basics of tire forces and moments. We will also dive into how forces and moments are generated, how quantities such as slip angle, split ratio, camber, forces and moments are measured, how tire data is visualized and which metrics are used to quantify the forces and moments of the tire. The webinar concludes with an exercise to connect how the tire metrics affect the vehicle behaviour.

If you have ever done any vehicle simulation you know that the most sensitive sub-system is the tire. However, tires remain one of the most difficult systems to model, relying greatly on laboratory and on-track testing.

Physically testing all of the possible configurations becomes impossible both in terms of time and budget. Thus, it becomes important to know within which conditions you should test your tire and how to correlate laboratory with on-track testing. Learn the requirements, advantages and disadvantages between laboratory and on-track testing, how to prepare a tire test, how to read the data and how to create a model.

Since the MF model is strongly data-driven, it must be properly parameterized so that it can be accurate and predictive in reproducing tire behavior in its whole operating range. To obtain a tire model, it is necessary to get forces and moments, measured from either indoor or outdoor acquisitions. With the data acquired, the next phase is to process the acquired data on which the model will then be fitted.

In this seminar, we will look at how to fit a tire model, how a model can be improved by changing the boundary constraints, population size, iteration number, and stop criteria. We will compare good and bad tire models, and investigate what can be done to improve the model. We will look at tire fitting pitfalls that could make the vehicle simulation inaccurate, and what options can be used to solve it.

Vehicle testing is complex, and both time and money consuming. As a user you need to rent a proving ground or a track, define what needs to be measured, select the necessary sensors and install them.

One of the most common vehicle tests is an on-track test used to obtain tire data and correlation. In this test, the car is equipped with sensors to measure variables such as slip angle, slip ratio, camber, speed, etc. The car must be driven with predefined steering and throttle inputs to collect tire data. The collected data is then used to a) obtain a tire model and b) correlate tire models obtained from laboratory testing.

The quality of the acquired data is highly dependent on how the procedure is done and the data analyzed. To successfully obtain tire model correlation, it’s necessary to have a clear methodology, sensors and the correct driving maneuvers for the chosen track. Vehicle models can be used to estimate vehicle states, such as camber, vertical load, tire forces, etc. Vehicle models improve the quality of the data acquired, further increasing the test’s success.