The measurement of the contact forces between road and tires is of fundamental importance while designing road vehicles.
In this paper, the design and the employment of measuring wheels for trucks and heavy vehicles is presented. The measuring wheels have been optimized in order to obtain high stiffness and the approximately the same mass of the wheels normally employed.
The proposed multicomponent measuring wheels are high- accuracy instruments for measuring the dynamic loads during handling and durability testing. The measuring wheels can replace the wheels of the truck under normal operation. Such family of wheels plays a major role in modern road vehicles development.
The measuring wheel concept design is based on a patented three-spoke structure connected to the wheel rim. The spokes are instrumented by means of strain gauges and the measuring wheel is able to measure the three forces and the three moments acting at the interface between the tire and the road. It uses an inboard digital system for wireless data transmission.
The main objective of the design process undertaken was improving the measuring wheel sensitivity and its accuracy while limiting the mass complying with stiffness and stress constraints.
The simple design, the good performance, in terms of accuracy, dynamic behaviour, limited mass and low cost represent the main features of the system.
The truck measuring wheel is currently in use to determine actual loading spectra useful for estimating the life rims and suspension components. A truck running on mixed routes (highway, city, ….) with different drivers and the force data are acquired via the measuring wheel and directly processed on line.
