Design of Laboratory Equipment for Routine Tire Force Force and Moment Testing

Tire force and moment test machines are used to measure mechanical properties important to vehicle handling. Many different machines have been developed for this type of work. This report discusses considerations in the design of such equipment which include productivity, road simulation, tire size range, input parameters, weighing system design, and data processing. The design of a new test machine with a belt type road simulator is described. Some early test data on machine correlation, lateral force and aligning torque dynamics, and flat road uniformity are presented.