Tire modeling for extreme handling maneuvers

This paper describes the development of a methodology for representing tire behaviour during extreme vehicle handling simulations. Firstly, the tire operating conditions during a “fishhook” maneuver are analyzed. During this maneuver the tires experience significantly higher vertical loads, sideslip rates and camber angles than during nominal passenger car tire testing conditions. As these tire measurements are used for model parameterization, only testing the tire under nominal conditions is insufficient for accurately modeling the tire performance during extreme handling maneuvers. Three different tire testing protocols are used to parameterize the MF-Tyre/MF-Swift model. The three generated parameter sets are used in vehicle dynamic simulations of which the results are compared to vehicle measurements. The effect of the sideslip angle rate (steering rate) on the tire behaviour is found to be most influential. The effect of the steering rate is eminent when tire thermal effects are considered. Results using an extended version of MF-Tyre/MF-Swift that takes into account thermal effects show that the steering rate directly influences the peak friction that the tire reaches. It is concluded that if a tire model is used for extreme handling maneuvers, the tire operating conditions during the vehicle maneuver should be considered in the tire parameterization test protocol to increase accuracy.