High fidelity nonlinear finite element tire modeling for dynamic analysis: Total Lagrangian formulation in rolling contact

Tire design with respect to vibrational behavior and noise emission is a challenging task due to the large number of parameters and their coupling. Therefore, accurate high fidelity nonlinear Finite Element (FE) models are needed to aid in the design process. The widely used Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) models, despite their computational efficiency, are limited to rib-slicked tires and require significant effort to consider inelastic material behavior and frictional phenomena. To overcome these limitations a novel nonlinear FE tire model is presented based on the Total Lagrangian (TL) formulation. The TL model is compared to the reference ALE model for the case of stationary rolling on a smooth and a rough road surface. The observed match of the TL model with respect to the hub and contact forces proves the feasibility of using the TL formulation in the context of rolling contact tire simulations. Therefore, the TL model can be seen as a valid alternative to the frequently used ALE models.