The measurement of dynamic radii for passenger car tyre

Abstract

The tyre dynamic rolling radius is an extremely important parameter for vehicle dynamics, for operation of safety systems as ESP, ABS, TCS, etc., for road vehicle research and development, as well as for validation or as an input parameter of automotive simulations and models. The paper investigates the dynamic rolling radii of passenger car tyre and the influence of rolling speed and inflation pressure on their magnitude. The measurement of dynamic rolling radii has been performed on a chassis dynamometer test rig. The dynamic rolling radii have been measured indirectly, using longitudinal rolling speed and angular velocity of wheel. Due to the subtle effects that the parameters have on rolling radius magnitude, very accurate equipment has to be used. Two different methods have been chosen for measuring the wheel angular velocity: the stroboscopic lamp and the incremental rotary encoder. The paper shows that the stroboscopic lamp has an insufficient resolution, therefore it was no longer used for experimental investigation. The tyre dynamic rolling radii increase with rolling speed and with tyre inflation pressure, but the effect of pressure is more significant. The paper also makes considerations on the viability of simplified formulae from literature for calculating the tyre dynamic rolling radius.