Theoretical and experimental study on the nonlinear dynamics of wheel-shimmy

Abstract

The dynamics of the one-degree-of-freedom model of a towed wheel is investigated with the help of delayed tyre model. The partial side slip in the contact region is also considered, leading to an infinite-dimensional, piecewise-smooth system of governing equations. The nonlinear behaviour of the system is explored by numerical continuation of the periodic solutions. Thus, we encounter bistable domains in the space of model parameters which are otherwise undetectable by the standard quasi-steady-state tyre models. The presence of these parameter domains is also confirmed by experiments showing qualitatively similar behaviour as predicted by our calculations.