Paper Number 5.1
Optimization
of Reinforcement Turn-up Effect
on Tire Durability and Performance
for Racing Tire Design using Finite Element Analysis
X Yang,
O A
Olatunbosun[1]
The damage occurring in the bead region has
been pointed out as one of the causes of critical failure during tire service.
This study investigates the influence of the body ply turn-up and bead
reinforcement turn-up around the bead region on tire durability and performance
using finite element analysis (FEA). A slick motorsport tire with two body
plies is modeled in ABAQUS based on the material properties obtained from tests
and the profile provided by the tire manufacturer. Various reinforcement
turn-up factors including the height of turn-up, the material property, the
cross-section area, the spacing and angles of the reinforcement cords are
characterized by numerical experiments using design of experiment method. The
effects of these parameters identified by mean response of strain energy
density of element in the critical region, carcass stress, lateral stiffness
and cornering stiffness are determined from the FEA model. The optimized
reinforcement turn-up heights are used to validate the tire design.
Furthermore, the overdesign in the tire bead region is observed from the
prediction of FEA model. Meanwhile, in order to satisfy the requirement of
lower tire spring rate for Formula Student racing, an improved tire based on
the original design but with single body ply is presented. In tests by the tire
manufacturer and a FS racing team the new tire has been shown to have improved
performance as predicted by FE analysis carried out on it. It is concluded that
the prediction technology using FEA can be utilized to optimize the tire
reinforcement turn-up effect in future tire design.