Tire Lateral Vibration Considerations in Vehicle-Based Tire Testing

Vehicle-based tire testing can potentially make it easier to reparametrize tire models for different road surfaces. A passenger car equipped with external sensors was used to measure all input and output signals of the standard tire interface during a ramp steer maneuver at constant velocity. In these measurements, large lateral force vibrations are observed for slip angles above the lateral peak force with clear peaks in the frequency spectrum of the signal at 50 Hz and at multiples of this frequency. These vibrations can lower the average lateral force generated by the tires, and it is therefore important to understand which external factors influence these vibrations. Hence, when using tire models that do not capture these effects, the operating conditions during the testing are important for the accuracy of the tire model in a given maneuver. An Ftire model parameterization of tires used in vehicle-based tire testing is used to investigate these vibrations. A simple suspension model is used together with the tire model to conceptually model the effects of the suspension on the vibrations. The sensitivity of these vibrations to different operating conditions is also investigated together with the influence of the testing procedure and testing equipment (i.e., vehicle and sensors) on the lateral tire force vibrations. Note that the study does not attempt to explain the root cause of these vibrations. The simulation results show that these vibrations can lower the average lateral force generated by the tire for the same operating conditions. The results imply that it is important to consider the lateral tire force vibrations when parameterizing tire models, which does not model these vibrations. Furthermore, the vehicle suspension and operating conditions will change the amplitude of these vibrations and must therefore also be considered in maneuvers in which these vibrations occur.