Modal Sensitivity Analysis of the In-Plane Rigid-Elastic Coupled Tire Model

Abstract This study uses the in-plane rigid elastic tire model and modal sensitivity analysis to explore the tire properties and its modal characteristics. The tire model integrated the Euler Bernoulli beam as a tire tread with sidewall lumped masses to extend the frequency range to 300 Hz. The finite Difference Method (FDM) is used to discretize the PDE’s equation of motion into ODE’s equations, create mass, stiffness, and damping matrix, and then build the tire modal model. The sensitivity analysis was applied to the tire modal model to identify the properties significantly impacting the tire’s natural frequencies in-phase and out-phase. Pretension and two sectional sidewall stiffnesses were chosen for sensitivity evaluation. Percentage variations of ±25% are imposed on each property to estimate their effects on the tire’s modal characteristics. The findings emphasize that the two sectional sidewall stiffness impact on the natural frequencies depends on the natural frequencies range (radial mode number) and whether it is in the in-phase or out-phase regions. However, the pretension generally significantly impacts natural frequencies linearly in all radial modes. These results offer valuable insights for understanding noise, vibration, and harshness and enhancing tire and vehicle performance for ride comfort over short-wavelength road profiles.