Pergamon

Journal of Terramechanics, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 395-414, 1994

Elsevier Science Ltd
Copyright 1995 ISTVS
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0022-4898/94 $7.00+0.00

0022--4898(94)00025-5
LATERAL

TYRE DYNAMIC

CHARACTERISTICS

C. PENG,* P. A. COWELL,? C. J. CHISHOLM* and J. A. LINES*

Summary--The ability to model the ride vibration of unsuspended vehicles is at present

seriously limited by lack of knowledge about the lateral and longitudinal dynamic characteristics of rolling tyres and the interaction of these characteristics with the ground surface. In
this paper, models for the lateral dynamic behaviour of a rolling tyre are reviewed. The beam
model, string model and spring-damper models are described and compared. A new lateral
tyre model is introduced and tested against experimental results. This model comprises a
parallel spring and hysteretic damping unit, representing the tyre carcass, in series with a
viscous damper representing the interaction between the tyre and ground. Model justification
was made against the measurements of lateral tyre response. The results showed that the
proposed model provided more accurate prediction of lateral dynamic' tyre response than the
other spring-damper models.

LIST OF SYMBOLS
Q

Cc
Cr
C.
E1

F,,
h
k
K
Kf
n

q~
qy
T
g
W
X

Y
Y~
Yp
Yt
Yr

half contact length

carcass stiffness ("pneumatic stiffness") per unit length of tyre segment
constant of proportionality of lateral force and lateral velocity
cornering stiffness at the point of zero longitudinal force
bending modulus of tread band
lateral force
hysteretic damping coefficient
lateral pneumatic stiffness of Fiala model
lateral stiffness of tyre carcass of proposed model
cornering stiffness at the point of zero slip angle
tyre parameter, defined as n 4 = k/E1
vertical force per unit area
lateral force per unit length
longitudinal component of tension
travel velocity
vertical load on tyre
longitudinal coordinate, reference frame fixed to road
lateral coordinate, reference frame fixed to road
lateral deflection of the string (the carcass)
lateral deflection of the tread rubber
lateral deformation of tyre carcass
lateral rolled distance of tyre contact patch

Greek letters
Ol
~o

q)
(7*

slip angle
circular frequency
spin (derivative of yaw angle ~p with respect to the length of wheel path S)
relaxation length of tyre
friction coefficient

*School of Engineering, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford O X 3 0 B P , U.K.

tSilsoe College, Cranfield University, Silsoe, Bedford, MK45 4DT, U.K.
*Silsoe Research Institute, Silsoe, Bedford, MK45 4HS, U.K.
395

396

C. Peng et al.

INTRODUCTION
The study of the lateral behaviour of tyres originated with the investigation of the
shimmy phenomenon in the 1930s [1]. Many attempts have been made to develop a
mathematical model of a pneumatic tyre, particularly with regard to its lateral
load-deflection relationship, to describe the steady-state behaviour of the tyre. Fiala
proposed a spring-supported ring model for the tyre structure [2]. The tread band was
represented as a beam. Using elasticity and beam-bending theory, he calculated the
tyre lateral force and produced an implicit function for an exact solution. Approximation was applied so that suitable values of the model parameters could be obtained to
give reasonable agreement with experiment. In the same year, Fromm offered a
"brush" model, with an elastic tread band and rigid carcass. With this simple model
he obtained the same expression as Fiala [3]. Pacejka [4] introduced a stretched string
model. He introduced the concept of relaxation length and deduced the non-steadystate response afterwards. Beam and spring models have been effectively used in
vehicle steering and shimmy analysis [4-10].
Instead of deriving lateral characteristics from a physical model, spring-damper
models are widely used in vehicle dynamics simply because they are consistent with
the other elements of the vehicle model. Traditionally, tyre dynamics are modelled as
a parallel spring and a viscous damper (called the classic model). However, prediction
of root-mean-square acceleration (r.m.s.) may be very poor using this model [11].
Lines [12, 13] introduced a spring-damper model which consists of a viscous damper,
representing the interaction between the tyre and ground, in series with a parallel
spring and viscous damper for the characteristics of the tyre carcass (called the
visco-plastic model). Crolla et a l . [11] used a similar tyre model but ignored the
damping of the tyre carcass (called the Maxwell model) in their simulation of vehicle
vibration. Their simulation showed improved results using this model compared with
using the classic model.
In addition to analytical models, an empirical approach has been applied in many
cases. Several forms of mathematical expression have been employed to produce good
agreement with measured results. Pottinger and Fairlie [1] used linear regression in
processing their results of tyre lateral force as a function of slip angle and camber
angle. Maalej et al. [14] introduced a third-order polynomial form of model to
represent experimental measurements of lateral tyre force. Bakker et a l . [15]
presented a model using a sine function. Guo and Liu [10] have used an exponential
tyre model in simulating vehicle handling behaviour.
For off-road tyres, such as agricultural tyres, McAllister [16] introduced an
exponential model based on his field experiments on agricultural tyres. The tyre
parameters were expressed in the form of a Mobility Number. When a longitudinal
force is exerted, such as a braking or driving force, and is combined with a lateral
force, tyre lateral characteristics will change. Some details of this can be found in refs
[10] and [17].
In this paper, we review previous analytical models of lateral tyre characteristics
and introduce a lateral tyre dynamic model with the validation against experimental
measurements.

REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK

There are two trends in modelling the lateral behaviour of tyres. One group of

Lateral tyre dynamiccharacteristics

397

authors uses physical models to represent tyre behaviour, such as the well known
beam model [2] and the string model [4]. For these models, a description of the
contact area and stress distribution is important. Others express tyre characteristics as
a combination of linear springs and viscous dampers.

Beam model (Fiala model)

Fiala introduced a spring-bedded ring model to represent tyre structure, shown in
Fig. 1. The tread band structure of the tyre is assumed to have the characteristics of a
beam attached to the elastic structure of the side walls [2]. Between the tread band
and the road surface, the rubber is assumed to act as a series of separate radial strips
of rubber.
Using elasticity and beam theory, the lateral displacement y of the tread band
about the wheel rim due to a lateral point load Fy can be represented as

-nFy

y -

(1 - n2x2).

(1)

2k
Assuming a parabolic distribution of contact pressure, integrated over adhesion and
sliding area, the total lateral force can be expressed as

Fv" -

1 + ,~,la/312Ca2 tan cr -

4C 2a3Atan2 l(41tqzmaxb + )~Fy)

+ 8c3a4tan 3 o:(4~qzmaxb +
B

AFy],

(2)

where A, B, Co and ~ are model factors (for details refer to ref. [2]).
Since the solution of this equation is only possible by trial and error methods,
approximation has to be applied. An approximation, which is widely used in vehicle
handling studies, is

Fy
where ~ = K tan

~2

2~3,

o~/(gW).

\
,,,

",

^^~2~ ', /??-"h.~ / /

YT"W

/ /

Fig. 1. Fiala tyre model.

(3)

398

C. Peng et al.

The beam model has been effectively used in vehicle cornering analysis [10, 18].
This model is derived fundamentally for the steady state. No publication has been
found using this beam model to describe the non-steady-state lateral behaviour of
tyres. A further approximation could be made. When the slip angle is small it can be
represented as
tan o: ~- -"f- .
V

(4)

Fy = c 2 ,

(5)

Equation (3) can be then reduced to

where
C _ K
V

K2

K3

@)2.

27V3/t2W 2

3V31,W"

This is equivalent to a velocity-dependent non-linear viscous damper.

String model (Pacejka model)

Pacejka [4] described a stretched-string tyre model. With this model, the tyre
carcass is represented by several elastically supported parallel strings under tension,
shown in Fig. 2. Neglecting the second-order effect of longitudinal displacement of
the tyre elements under equilibrium conditions, the lateral deflection of a tyre
element of length dx is given by
a2

32

Yc

8x 2

2~2Vc

Crc~

~x 2
32

02

Yc

Dx 2

Yc

_ qY

Cc

- Yc = - ( 1 - ~,2)y
Yc = 0

in sliding zone,

(6)

in adhesion zone,

(7)

un-contact part,

(8)

where o, crc and e are functions of the tension force in the strings and the stiffness of
the tread rubber and carcass.
Once the deflection of the tyre is known, the cornering force Fy can be calculated
by integration over the contact area. As an example, Pacejka calculated the lateral

-,,2
~ ~ ( c o n t a c t

crosscord

Pig. 2. Top view of string model.

length)

Lateral tyre dynamiccharacteristics

399

force of the string model with and without a tread element under completely adhesive
conditions, i.e. when the coefficient of friction was large or the slip angle tended to
zero [4]. The lateral force then becomes:
F,, = Cf~" a',

(9)

where Cf~ is a constant of the tyre structure (for details refer to ref. [4]).
For the non-steady-state characteristics of tyres, the transfer function between
lateral force F>, and slip angle c~ is described as [5]
Fy ( s ) =

2(0 + a) -

1 + os + 1 e -2sa

(10)

where s is the Laplace variable.

For use in vehicle dynamic simulation, this exact treatment is still too complicated;
therefore, several simplifications have been made. One simplification is to expand the
exact response function (10) into powers of s and truncate the series. If the power
series is truncated after the second power of s then the shape of the contact line is
approximated by a parabola, and the approximate solution is given by [19]
cr/~
V >' + Fv = C f . c r -

Cf,~

a-

Cf~q~ +

Cf+

qb,

(11)

where Cf., Cf+, Cf~, and Cf+ are factors of the tyre carcass and contact length of
footprint.
Goraj [20] approximated the response to a lateral force by neglecting the dimensions of the contact area. The response to lateral force then reads:
Y (s)Fy

Cf.

(12)

l + so

Owen and Bernard [9] showed that the differential equation when neglecting the
contact length can be written as a first-order lag:
Fv = -C,0:"

o/~,
V

(13)

y"

Based on the string concept and the solution of the tyre lateral response to a
sinusoidal input, Ellis [21] indicated that the non-steady-state solution of the string
model could be written as:
Ev = C ( o ~ - B&),
(14)
where B and C are constants.
The string model has been used effectively in the study of the directional dynamics
and shimmy of vehicles [4-9]. It is mathematically simpler than the beam model,
which can be seen from the following load intensity equations:
String m o d e l

-T

d2y + ky = qy(X),

(15)

dx 2
Beam model

E1 d4y + k y = qy(X).

(16)

dx 4
However, the exact solution of the string model is still too complicated to be used in
practice so some approximations have to be made. The solutions from these

C. Peng et al.

400

approximations are dependent upon the description of the contact area (refer to
equations (11)-(14)).

Spring-damper model
Models using spring and damper characteristics are widely used in the study of
vehicle dynamics and vibration as their elements are the same as those used in vehicle
models. Traditionally, tyre characteristics are represented by a classic model (parallel
spring and viscous damper). However this model showed very poor prediction of root
mean square (r.m.s.) accelerations [11]. Attempts were made to improve simulation
with different models.
Based on his measurements, Lines [12] described the lateral force as a linear
function of slip angle a, for small angles, as
E,. = C , . a~.

(17)

If the travel speed is V, when cv is small it can be written

(18)
V
This would indicate that the t y r e - r o a d interface behaves in a manner analogous to a
viscous damper in series with the characteristics of the tyre carcass and with a

damping coefficient given by

C2 -

C~
V

(19)

When the carcass characteristics are modeled as a Kelvin unit (parallel spring and
viscous damper), the complete lateral tyre model can be expressed as a viscous
damper in series with a Kelvin unit [13] (in this paper called the visco-plastic model)
shown in Fig. 3. With this model the lateral tyre characteristics can be expressed as

C1 + C2 F,. "+- F,. = C2Vog-k -C1C2V

-&,
k
k

Fig. 3. Visco-plasticmodel.

(20)

Lateral tyre dynamic characteristics

401

where k is the stiffness of the tyre carcass, C1 is the viscous damping of the tyre
carcass and C2 is the viscous damping for the road-tyre interface.
Crolla et al. [11] used a simplified model (spring and damper in series) to represent
lateral and longitudinal tyre behaviour. They demonstrated this model in another
way. Dynamically, a finite time is required for a change in slip angle to produce a
lateral force. This can be modelled as a first-order lag, and thus equation (17)
becomes

17"1~y q- Fy = C.ol.

(21)

The force generated by a spring and damper in series is given by

Fy = k ( y l - y) = -cy'l.

(22)

Using equation (18), this can be written as:

This is equivalent to equation (21). Thus, the lateral tyre behaviour can be modelled
as a spring and damper in series (Maxwell model), as shown in Fig. 4.
These new spring-damper models, the visco-plastic model and Maxwell model, lack
justification against dynamic measurements of tyres. It is interesting to compare these
models with the solutions from the string model in terms of their differential
equations. Comparing equations (21) and (13), they are mathematically identical. This
indicates that the Maxwell model is equivalent to the string model with the
assumption of zero contact length.
If the effect of spin ~ and the rate of spin ~ can be neglected, then the third and
fourth items on the right-hand side of equation (11) are omitted; it becomes
Zp.
V

Cfa .

y q- Fy = CfolOl - --Ol.v

Fig. 4. Maxwell model.

(24)

402

C. Peng et al.

Comparing the right-hand sides of equations (20) and (24), the string model with the
assumption of a parabolic contact curve can be interpreted as a viscous damper in
series with a Kelvin unit which has a negative damping coefficient.
Beam and string models can provide some physical interpretation of the tyre
behaviour, but their exact solutions are too complicated to be used in practice.
Certain approximations have to be employed. The accuracy is dependent upon the
shape of the contact area. If we express lateral tyre behaviour in terms of springs and
dampers, then the beam model acts as a non-linear viscous damper with a velocitydependent coefficient; the string model behaves as a viscous damper in series with a
spring or a viscous damper in series with a Kelvin unit which has a negative damping
coefficient.
Spring-damper models can be used conveniently in vehicle dynamics simulations
and have the potential to improve the prediction significantly. They are compatible
with the string model. Further experimental and theoretical work is needed to
develop them.

MODELLING LATERAL TYRE BEHAVIOUR

Under the action of lateral force, the carcass of a rolling tyre will be deformed
laterally and twisted horizontally. The tyre will roll at an angle to the tyre plane. The
lateral displacement of the wheel axle is made up of three parts:
(1) tyre carcass lateral deformation, Yt;
(2) lateral travelled distance, Yr, due to slip angle or, yaw ~p and travel speed V; and
(3) lateral sliding distance, ys,~when complete sliding occurs on the interface of tyre
and ground.
Lateral sliding is an extreme condition for vehicle stability. We are interested in
normal conditions where slip occurs only in part of the contact area. The tyre lateral
displacement can be expressed as
Ytotal = Yt + Yr'

(25)

The tyre lateral frequency response function can be written as:

Ytotal (it0) = - Yt
- 0 t o )
Fy
Fy

).
+ -Yr
-(ltO
Fy

(26)

The first item on the right-hand side is the response of the tyre carcass, and the
second the response due to t y r e - r o a d interaction. This indicates that lateral tyre
response is the combination of the response of the tyre carcass and the response of
t y r e - r o a d interaction.
Response of tyre-road interaction
Under the action of lateral force, the wheel centre will shift laterally due to the
elasticity of the tyre carcass. For lateral vibration of a non-rolling tyre, the tyre wilt
oscillate about a fixed contact patch. When the tyre is rolling, a new part of the tyre
tread band is constantly coming into the contact area. In the adhesion zone at the
front of the contact area, no sliding occurs and the wheel movement appears to be
pure rolling along the track of the distorted tyre tread band. Therefore, the tyre will
shift laterally the further along the track it rolls. When lateral load is applied on a

Lateral tyre dynamic characteristics

403

Y~

II~.( ,,..II~l

//

area

L
I
i

(-- -~

l@

I
I
I

XXX XXX

XXX

Fig. 5. Lateral displacement of rolling tyre.

rolling tyre, the tyre will roll a distance laterally due to the distorted tyre carcass.
When the lateral load is released, the tyre will remain in that position and not roll
back to the original position.
Considering a wheel rolling at angular speed f~ with effective rolling radius r0, the
lateral rolled distance Yr at time t can be written
t

yr=/itanolf2rodt=fotano~Vdt.

(27)

The angle c~ is a function of lateral force, the structural properties of the tyre carcass
and properties of the road surface.
Taking the Fourier transform of both sides, we get
o~(yr) = ~

Vtan0cdt

) = 1 .~(VtanaO,

(28)

I(D

and
Yr.(iw) -

~(Yr) _ 1 ~(Vtan0)

Fy

UP(Fy)

iw

5;(Fy)

(29)

404

C. Peng et al.

Using the measurements by McAllister [16], when the angle o: is small, the lateral
force F~, is proportional to angle or, and it can be written as
Fv = C~ol.

(30)

When the slip angle 0l is small, we can write

tanct~

oc-

Fv

(31)

Ca"
Under the condition of constant travel speed V, we get

,~(Vtan0l)_

V .

(Fy)

Ca

(32)

Substituting equation (32) into equation (29); the response of tyre-road interaction
(second item on the right-hand side of equation (26)) can be written as
Yr (i~) -

(33)

Response of the tyre carcass

Under the action of lateral load, the tyre carcass will deform laterally due to its
elasticity and air pressure. The tyre carcass is generally represented as a parallel
spring and viscous damper. Viscous dampers have been used traditionally for
expressing the energy loss in the science of materials. However, it has been found
experimentally that the energy loss per cycle of many engineering materials is
independent of the forcing frequency, compared with the viscous energy loss which is
proportional to the forcing frequency. To fit this, an equivalent viscous damping
coefficient is introduced that is inversely proportional to the forcing frequency [23].
This is called hysteretic damping or structural damping.
Measurements in vertical tyre dynamic experiments by Lines [13] have shown that
the measured tyre viscous damping coefficient decreases with the forcing frequency. If
this decrease in the damping coefficient C could be represented as inversely
proportional to the frequency ~o, tyre carcass damping would be consistent with
hysteretic damping.
In the science of materials, particularly rubber engineering, it has been reported
that there is a component of rubber stress out of phase with the strain, and the
dynamic properties of rubber are represented by a complex modulus G* [24-26]:
G* = G' + iG",
(34)
where G' is the in-phase component (storage modulus), and G" is the out-of-phase
component (loss modulus).
Based on these observations, the proposed model therefore makes use of a complex
stiffness (spring and hysteretic damping in parallel) representing the tyre carcass by a
complex stiffness K* given by:
K* = K + ih.

(35)

Therefore
yt (it0) _
1
(36)
Fy
K + ih"
It would be helpful to have a clear understanding of the physical mechanism of
deformation of the tyre carcass rubber in terms of its molecular structure. Viscous

Lateral tyre dynamic characteristics

405

damping was designed originally for viscous fluids and is used widely in engineering
practice because of its simplicity of mathematical expression and physical representation. However, rubber is different from viscous fluids. From the point of view of
molecular structure, rubber is not the same as either a liquid or a metal solid. Liquid
has a molecular structure with free molecules, while metal has a crystallized molecular
structure. Rubber consists of convoluted long-chain molecules interlinked with each
other. Under an extension force, rubber deforms differently from both metal and
liquid. The molecular chains partly uncurl as they are stretched. When the force is
released, the molecular chain will try to return to the original distorted shape, which
will take time and cause a time delay. Therefore, the damping could be expected to
be more dependent on the displacement than the velocity. This is thought to be the
reason why rubber damping is different from that of the viscous damper.
As the purpose of this paper is tyre lateral modelling, it is not proposed to
investigate rubber's molecular structure more deeply here. The authors would be
pleased if the discussion in this paper of the hysteretic damping of tyre carcass rubber
provides improved understanding, and expect that further work on the molecular
structure of rubber may provide an adequate explanation.

Proposed tyre model

From equations (26), (33) and (36), the tyre lateral behaviour can now be pictured
as a parallel spring K and a hysteretic damper h, representing the tyre carcass, in
series with a viscous damper C, representing the interaction between the tyre and the
ground. This is shown in Fig. 6. This model embraces contributions of both the tyre
carcass and the interaction between the tyre and ground with the lateral characteristics of the tyre. The transfer function of this model is given as
Ytotal (i~o) 1
+ 1 .
Fy
K + ih
iCrto

(37)

l lVy

IY

Fig. 6. Proposed tyre model.

c. Peng et al.

406

Frequency response of the proposed model

A Bode diagram for this transfer function is shown in Fig. 7. It shows that the
amplitude ratio A.R. ly/F),I approaches two asymptotes (dashed lines) when the
frequency is well below and well above a corner frequency f0. This corner frequency
is given by
1

J]) = 2~

Cr

(38)

These two asymptotes represent a viscous damper with damping coefficient Cr, and a
parallel spring K and hysteretic damper h, respectively. Below the corner frequency
f0, the model behaves like a viscous damper, whose amplitude ratio is a straight line
with a slope - 2 0 dB per decade. Above this frequency, it behaves more like a
parallel spring and hysteretic damper, its amplitude ratio being a constant. This
implies that at frequencies well above the corner frequency f0, the tyre carcass
characteristics are dominant, and the lateral tyre characteristics can be simplified to a
parallel spring and hysteretic damper. At very low frequencies, where road-tyre
interaction is most important, tyre lateral behaviour can be approximated simply as a
viscous damper.
It appears that the tyre carcass and the interaction of tyre and ground are two key
aspects of tyre lateral characteristics. These two aspects dominate tyre lateral
behaviour within high- and low-frequency regions independently. Therefore for some
particular applications, for instance the simulation of steering and handling, a simple
tyre lateral model that only represents the interaction between the tyre and ground
could be employed with reasonable accuracy.
Using these two simple models (shown in Fig. 8), i.e. a viscous damper at
frequencies below the corner frequency f0, and a parallel spring and hysteretic
damper at frequencies above the corner frequency to approximate the tyre character-

dB -80

-90

- -

-100

'l

-II0

[
I

-120
10 -2

1
fo

10

Frequency

102

(Hz)

Fig. 7. Amplitude ratio (A.R.) of proposed model with the asymptotes and corner frequency )~,
K = 260 kNm-1, h = 20 kNm -I, Cr = 300 kNsm -~.

Lateral tyre dynamiccharacteristics

407

Fy
Fy

(~

IY

//

Fig. 8. Two simple models for lateral tyre characteristicsat low- and high-frequencyrange.
istics, the maximum amplitude ratio (dB) difference between the proposed model and
these two approximations is given at corner frequency f0 (in Fig. 7) by

AA.R.(dB) --- IOIog[I + (l + h)2].

(39)

According to Gehman [26], the ratio of the loss modulus to storage modulus of tyre
tread rubber is usually found in the range 0.1-0.2. Taking the ratio of hysteretic
damping h to stiffness K as 0.2, the difference in the amplitude ratio will be 3.87 dB.
If we use the Maxwell model (series spring and damper, shown in Fig. 4) as an
approximation around the corner frequency f0, then the amplitude ratio difference
between the proposed model and the Maxwell model at the corner frequency is given
by
1 + _h + h 2
K
2K 2
A n . R . (dB) = 10 log
(40)
h2
I+-K2
Using a ratio of 0.2 between the hysteretic damping h and the stiffness K, the
maximum difference between their predictions will be 0.694 dB.
For a simple vehicle model, the body is generally simplified as a rigid block, as
shown in Fig. 9. The motion equation of this model can be written as (for details
refer to Appendix B in ref. [27])
M _d3y
+ MK
_
_ _ + ih d2y + (K + ih) dY
dt 3
C
dt 2
dt
where M is the mass of the vehicle.

dFy
dt

K_._.._++
ih F,,,
C

(41)

C. Peng et al.

408

Fy

II h
_L

XXXX~ XXX~4
Fig. 9. Simplifiedlateral vehicle model.

This is not an ordinary second-order system, as is found from the vehicle vertical
model. The left-hand side of equation (41) includes a third-order term and the
right-hand side has a term representing the rate of change of lateral tyre force with
time. This is caused by the viscous damping being connected in series rather than in
parallel as in the ordinary system. Its transfer function becomes
l+i

h + C(o
K

~ (i~o) =

-M~2 - h c) + i[C'(

(42)

M oJ, ) _ h M~o2]

When damping C for the interaction between tyre and ground is very large, the
transfer function can be approximated as
Y(io)) =

F~,

(43)

-Mo) 2 + K + i h

When the ratio of damping h to stiffness K for the tyre carcass is very small, this can
be approximated as
l+i-Y~(i~) =

F,

Cto
K

(44)

Lateral tyre dynamiccharacteristics

409

Model validation
A set of experiments were carried out using the dynamic tyre testing vehicle at the
Silsoe Research Institute, shown in Fig. 10. This machine is designed especially for
investigating rolling tyre dynamic behaviour [28]. The tyre under test was excited by
the vibration of an inertial mass. It can vibrate the tyre in the vertical, lateral or
longitudinal directions, while the tyre is rolling on different surfaces, such as highway,
farm track or soft soil. Tyre vertical load, inflation pressure, travel speed and driving
or braking torque can be changed according to the requirements of the experiment.
The measured force and acceleration signals are stored on magnetic tape and then
replayed to estimate the tyre frequency response functions.
The model parameters, stiffness and damping, were estimated by means of a
best-fitting technique applied to the measured frequency response function of lateral
tyre acceleration to the lateral ground force. The best-fitting technique provides the
best value of the parameters that the model could obtain. The lateral ground force of
tyre, Fyground, is obtained by subtracting the inertial force, M . ~, from the lateral
force on the wheel axle, Fyaxle:
Fyground --" Fyaxle - M" ~.
Typical results of measured and predicted lateral tyre frequency response functions at
travel speeds of 5 and 10kmh -1 are collected together (Figs 11 and 12). The real
parts of the frequency response for all tyre models show good agreement with the
experimental measurements, the proposed tyre model and visco-plastic model showing
better agreement. Comparing the imaginary part of the measured frequency response
function, the visco-plastic model showed an over-estimation, whereas the Maxwell
model showed over-estimation and under-estimation at the frequencies above and

Fig. 10. Dynamictyre testingvehicle.

410

C. Peng et al.

classic model

c,
0 ~ - - -

....

Maxwell model
visco-plastic model
proposed model
measured

0 005

0 004

-0 004 [
Z

,4~

~ooo~

c,

2
0 003
/

E
" -0 012 !

"!~a. ~-

0 002

jl

.%-?

ii

0016[

-002
0

~
2

L
4

frequency

~
6

__

0 001

':']l

"/

~=~~~
~- ~

[
8

frequency

(Hz)

(Hz)

Fig. 11. Experimental measurements and model predictions of lateral tyre acceleration response to lateral
ground force, at travel speed of 5 kmh -~ .

....
--

~,,

measured

0 005 I - -

....
~ 1

classic model
Maxwell model
visco-plastic model
proposed model

~1 i~I i

"-4',~ ,-

-0 004 !

0 004

k
<~ -0 008

<~ 0 003
e~
E
0002

E
~0 012
i

0016

O"
,, c,~

E
0 001
J J ~- -o o ~ - ' ~

-0 02

frequency

(Hz)

0,

frequency

(Hz)

Fig. 12. Experimental measurements and model predictions of lateral tyre acceleration response to lateral
ground force, at travel speed of 10 km h -t.

below 4 Hz. The proposed tyre model showed better agreement over the whole range
of testing frequency.
Figures 11 and 12 present lateral acceleration response to the lateral ground force,
which removes the effect of the inertial mass of the wheel. Taking account of the
mass of the wheel, the force then represents the lateral force acting at the wheel axle,
which can be obtained from the measured signals. Comparisons were made between
the measured results and predictions from the tyre models (Figs 13 and 14). The
results showed that the classical and the visco-plastic models over-estimated the

Lateral tyre dynamic characteristics

411

classic model

Maxwell model
visco-plastic m o d e l
-

proposed model
measured

,, ,--~ , <7"~,,=,

180

002

0 016
Z"
to

E oo12

"o
v

i,~,:li

o)
~,~
E

i / '~'~,'!!

0 008

o 004

,:

....

%.,' .

't,,
'::~

1.

frequency

90

(Hz)

frequency

(Hz)

Fig. 13. Experimental measurements and model predictions of lateral tyre acceleration response to lateral
force exerted on wheel axle, at travel speed of 5 k m h - ~ .

classic model
Maxwell

model

visco-plastie m o d e l
proposed model
measured

,80 -~.-.:.:;~: ..:.

0 02

I-

.5

::

Z'0

016

i/ !i'b
E

0012

;iI

ID
~
E

0 008

<

~ If,'
90

13_

0 004

= .; c. -7.-,~e.e~,.

0
2

frequency

(Hz)

L
0

i
2

frequency

(Hz)

Fig. 14. Experimental measurements and model predictions of lateral tyre acceleration response to lateral
force exerted on wheel axle, at travel speed of 10 k m h -~ .

lateral tyre response and the Maxwell model provided under-estimation. The proposed tyre model offered the best prediction of the amplitude ratio and phase angle.
The relative prediction error of the amplitude ratio from these models is shown in
Table 1.
Assessment of the tyre models was also undertaken against acceleration in the time
domain. Experiments were conducted with a lateral sinusoidal vibration at frequency
2.73 Hz while the tyre travelled straight forwards. They were conducted near the
resonant frequency (about 3.3 Hz) in order to better observe agreement of the
models. The model parameters were estimated from a separate experiment of

412

C. Peng et al.
Table 1. Relative error of the amplitude ratio predictions from the tyre models
Inflation
pressure (bar)

Travel speed
(kmh ')

Relative error (predicted - measured)/measured

(%)
Classical
model

1.28

Maxwell Visco-plastic Proposed

model
model
model

53

10

225

-63

-45

199

53

- IO

12

114

178

-44
-26

lO0
164

- 11

10
5

82
74

-51
- 18

86
47

- 15
19

1.7

2.4

i0

25

n a r r o w - b a n d r a n d o m v i b r a t i o n . T h e y were t a k e n into the m o d e l which was t h e n used

to calculate lateral a c c e l e r a t i o n in the time d o m a i n with lateral force o n the axle as
the i n p u t (Fig. 15). It showed that classical a n d visco-plastic m o d e l s o v e r - p r e d i c t e d
the a c c e l e r a t i o n a m p l i t u d e a n d the Maxwell m o d e l u n d e r e s t i m a t e d the a m p l i t u d e
along with the phase shift. T h e p r o p o s e d m o d e l p r e s e n t e d the best prediction. It can

1000
to
I,..
0

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

600
200

"4

-200
-600
~2
-1000

4.0

4.4

4.8

5.2

5.6

6.0

3.0
,0

IX

fX

.%, i/, %, ,G,'iPi, li , G,'!i,

!i.,

1.8

..~
c}

0.6
v

-0,6

-1.s
--3.0
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.0
4.4
4.8
5.2
5.6

time
....

measured

Maxwell

---

model
proposed

6.0

(sec,)
classical

model

viscoplastic

model

model

Fig. 15. Lateral tyre acceleration response of the measurement and predictions from the models.

Lateral tyre dynamic characteristics

413

therefore be expected that the proposed tyre model would improve vehicle vibration
simulation when incorporated in a vehicle model.
The assessment of the proposed tyre model with the measurements indicated that
the introduction of hysteretic damping in parallel with a spring is a good representation of the characteristics of the tyre carcass. Together with a viscous damper for the
interaction between the tyre and ground, they provide a model for the lateral tyre
characteristics. The assessments proved that the proposed model represents the lateral
tyre characteristics well. The proposed model improved the vibration prediction when
it was incorporated into a single-degree-of-freedom system compared with the
performance of previous tyre models. Further work is necessary to evaluate the
proposed model when applied to the simulation of vehicle ride vibration.

CONCLUSION
Tyre models based on physical approximations, such as beam or string models,
require integration over the contact area. The curvature of contact has a large effect
on the solution. Moreover, the exact solutions of these models are either implicit
functions or are too complicated to be applied in vehicle dynamics.
Recently introduced spring-damper models are convenient for use in the simulation
of vehicle dynamics. The comparison of their mathematical expressions shows that
they are compatible with the string model under certain conditions. The beam model
acts as a non-linear viscous damper with a velocity-dependent coefficient; the string
model behaves like a viscous damper in series with a spring or in series with a Kelvin
unit which has a negative damping coefficient.
The proposed lateral tyre model employs a parallel spring and hysteretic damping
to represent the tyre carcass, in series with a viscous damper representing interaction
at the contact patch. The experimental results showed that this tyre model improved
the agreement between prediction and measurement compared with the other
spring-damper models. It could be expected that this proposed tyre model may be
used in modelling longitudinal tyre characteristics.

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