Race Car Tire Modeling: A Simplified Approach for Vehicle Dynamic Analysis and Real-Time Simulation

An algorithm for tire data generation from on-track race car data to be used in vehicle stability and control analysis and/or lap time simulations is presented in this paper. The proposed algorithm allows analytical prediction of tire dynamic and kinematic quantities for a satisfactory evaluation of tire stiffness properties in the linear and non-linear range of operation. In particular, tire data related to Lateral Force vs. Slip Angle, Aligning Torque vs. Slip Angle, Braking (Driving) Force vs. Longitudinal Slip curves are made available by the algorithm. The resulting tire model responds to normal load, camber angle, and composite tire patch slip. Its longitudinal and lateral forces interact with an equivalent friction ellipse formulation.

Non-linear effects cannot be modeled in a frequency domain solution: a time domain solution is therefore used in examining tire dynamic behavior so that non-linear effects can be included in the analysis.