Evaluation of vehicle-based tyre testing methods

The demand for reduced development time and cost for passenger cars increases the strive to replace physical testing with simulations. This leads to requirements on the accuracy of the simulation models used in the development process. The tyres, the only components transferring forces from the road to the vehicle, are a challenge from a modelling and parameterization perspective. Tests are typically performed on flat belt tyre testing machines. Flat belt machines offers repeatable and reliable measurements. However, differences between the real world road surface and the flat belt can be expected. Hence, when using a tyre model based on flat belt measurements in full vehicle simulations, differences between the simulations and real prototype testing can be expected as well. Vehicle-based tyre testing can complement flat belt measurements by allowing reparameterization of tyre models to a new road surface. This paper describes an experimental vehicle-based tyre testing approach that aims to parameterize force and moment tyre models compatible with the standard tyre interface. Full-vehicle tests are performed, and the results are compared to measurements from a mobile tyre testing rig on the same surface and to measurements on a flat belt machine. The results show that it is feasible to measure the inputs and outputs to the standard tyre interface on a flat road surface with the used experimental setup. The flat belt surface and the surface on the test track show similar characteristics. The maximum lateral force is sensitive to the chosen manoeuvres, likely due to temperature differences and to vibrations at large slip angles. For tyre models that do not model these effects, it is vital to test the tyres in a manoeuvre that creates comparable conditions for the tyres as the manoeuvre in which the tyre model will be used.