Theoretical and experimental investigation of tyre dynamics

Abstract

The lateral vibration of towed wheels ‐ also called shimmy ‐ is related to the elasticity of the suspension system or to the elasticity of the wheel. The second case is studied here since the majority of the vehicles has pneumatic tyres. A one degree‐of‐freedom wheel model is considered with perfect rolling and elastic tyre. To verify the theoretical stability charts, an experimental rig is built and one of the stability boundaries is identified. Close to a double Hopf bifurcation point quasiperiodic vibrations are observed. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)