FEA OF TYRES SUBJECTED TO STATIC LOADING

Structural static finite element analysis (FEA) may be used in tyre design, in order to predict and improve mechanical behaviour and durability of tyres. This paper describes the possible goals of static tyre FEA and gives special attention to various aspects of finite element (FE) model building. A short review of relevant papers is given first, followed by the description of axisymmetric and 3D models built by the authors and the results of analyses conducted using those. The accompanying comments describe how those results may be used by tyre designers.