A new generation of wide-base tires has been introduced to the market in the past two years [1]. The target for these tires is to lower operating costs and improve efficiency within the trucking industry by lowering fuel consumption and increasing payload. Initial reactions from drivers suggest that these tires, when compared to conventional dual tires, provide not only fuel and weight savings but also a smoother ride.
A 12 degree-of-freedom model of the vertical dynamic response [2,3] was used to explain drivers’ reactions. The model uses tire parameters such as mass, stiffness and damping ratio as input, in addition to vehicle inertial, geometric, and suspension parameters. Random road inputs are characterized by a power spectral density of the vertical profile.
Initial results show that the vertical and longitudinal acceleration of the driver is significantly reduced in certain frequency ranges for the truck equipped with new wide-base tires as compared to dual tires. This paper will discuss the vehicle response to different tires and will provide an explanation of why drivers feel the ride is smoother with the new wide-base tires.