Effects of steering dynamics upon tyre lateral forces on deformable surfaces

Abstract

Tyre lateral force is one of the most important parameters of the tyre and is critical for vehicle’s handling and stability performance. For wheeled off-road vehicles, the effects of deformable surface on tyre performance must be considered. This paper presents a study on tyre lateral force measurement on three different deformable surfaces: loess soil, sandy soil and wet snow. The lateral force was measured on two front wheels of a light SUV by means of two 6-element Rotating Wheel Dynamometers (RWDs). The front wheels of the vehicle were turned by a steering robot installed in the vehicle to obtain repeatable excitation of the wheels at various angular speeds (100, 500 and 1500 deg/s) and frequencies (0.5, 1 and 2.5 Hz). During measurements, the test vehicle was pulled by a tractor vehicle of a significantly higher weight to ensure linear movement. This paper presents and discusses the tyre lateral force results and characteristics.