Numerical analysis of steady-state mechanical characteristics of the flexible spoke non-pneumatic tire under multiple working conditions

Since the research on the steady-state mechanical characteristics of the non-pneumatic tire is not perfect at present, in order to comprehensively explore the steady-state mechanical characteristics of a new flex-ible spoke non-pneumatic tire (FSNPT), the steady-state mechanical simulations under multiple working conditions are carried out. The three-dimensional model and numerical analysis model of the new FSNPT are established, the reliability and accuracy of the simulation model are validated by the bench test. Combined with the tire steady-state rolling theory, simulation tests of steady-state mechanical character-istics of the FSNPT under pure longitudinal slip, pure lateral slip, pure camber and compound working conditions are completed. The steady-state mechanical characteristic curves of the FSNPT under pure and compound working conditions are obtained, the steady-state mechanical characteristic laws are ana-lyzed. The results show that: Under the pure working condition, the tire force or torque has a certain trend with the change of the tire motion state under the same load, with the increase of the load, the lon-gitudinal stiffness, lateral stiffness, aligning stiffness and camber stiffness of the non-pneumatic tire and their corresponding peak values all tend to increase. Under the compound working condition, the influ-ence of the camber on lateral force and aligning moment is directional, that is, it will promote or inhibit the generation of lateral force and aligning moment, but has little influence on the longitudinal force. At the same time, the longitudinal force and lateral force under the compound working condition are mutu-ally restricted; compared with the pure working condition, the generation of the aligning torque under the compound working condition is greatly influenced by the camber and longitudinal slip, and the trend with the lateral slip angle changes significantly. This study provides a theoretical guidance for structural design and performance optimization of the FSNPT.(c) 2022 ISTVS. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.