Critical Review of the State-of-the-Art in the Tire Force and Moment Measurements

This paper critically reviews the state of the art of measurements of tire force and moment properties in steady state and transient conditions and analyzes certain controversial factors influencing these properties. It shows that testing at unrealistically low speeds affects tire force and moment measurement at least as much as drum curvature. Tire measurements are also significantly influenced by characteristics of the test equipment. Forces and moments acting on the tire change tire elastic properties, however, these properties restore themselves after the tire “rests”.

The paper shows that vehicle responses in transient steer maneuvers are strongly influenced by transient tire properties. It was demonstrated that, by using a transient tire model in simulation of vehicle transient responses, the sideslip response time was increased by 32 percent over its value determined by using a steady state tire model. In the low frequency range prevailing during rapid steering maneuvers, transient tire properties are characterized by a dynamic lateral force offset.