| Abstract: | A mathematical model of a two-dimensional contact patch of pneumatic tires rolling over a rigid flat road surface at arbitrary slip and camber angles has been developed. The model is simple in concept, contains few parameters and is applicable to any tire simulation models. In addition to tire geometric parameters and vertical deflection, the carcass camber angle is introduced in the model. This angle is alone responsible for the asymmetric shape of the tire contact patch when the tire undergoes a lateral force. The computed contact patches agree well with the measured patches of an automotive tire at different slip and camber angles. Lastly, the influence of the contact patch geometry on the tire cornering and aligning properties has been discussed through a computational example. It has been shown that the effect of tire contact patch geometry on the steady state behavior is rather remarkable. |
