Tire hydroplaning is quite common. With sufficient speed, automobiles lift right off the road thanks to the hydrostatic lubrication provided by a thin layer of water. A hydroplaning vehicle has no directional control which often leads to accidents. Engineers with the Yokohama Rubber Co. in Japan are exploring the phenomena by modeling tires and water in FEA software to duplicate the effect. The next step will be finding tread patterns that resist hydroplaning more efficiently than existing designs. The software solves the tire deformation problem using finite-element modeling methods. Fluid behavior is solved uing finite-volume methods. To predict the speed at which a tire hydroplanes, researchers analyzed the velocity dependence of contact forces between the tire and the road. The engineers defined the hydroplaning velocity as that at which contact forces between tire and road fall to 10 % of the tire load. Before testing the tire model, the company collected experimental data for several tire tread models along with videos of water flow around the contact area. The model reproduced experimental data with sufficient accuracy.
Building the better wet-weather tire
Aquaplaning: Ein Simulationsmodell
Machine Design ; 73 , 1 ; 60-62
2001
2 Seiten, 3 Bilder
Article (Journal)
English