Tyre Design and Optimization by Dedicated CAD Tyre Model

Abstract

Structural optimization by Finite Elements (FE) is proved very effective in tyre design. For that purpose, major tyre manufacturers use in-house applications. An alternative solution, involving dedicated CAD tyre model (DCTM), is here proposed. DCTM concept permits to easily change the FE tyre models, concerning shape and structure, by moving a part of pre-processing from FE analysis to CAD. No special skills regarding CAD or FEA are required. For every new tyre design, only a new DCTM and a corresponding FE model must be built. All subsequent model changes are automatically performed by mapping and translation routines. To test this concept, DTCM models of an existing tyre were created and used within a pilot design study.

Keywords

• CAD-FEM integration
• DCTM, structural analysis
• structural optimization
• tyre design
• wheels/tyres