The development work of a race car revolves around numerous goals such as drag reduction, maximizing downforce and side force, and maintaining balance. Commonly, these goals are to be met at the same time thus increasing the level of difficulty to achieve them. The methods for data acquisitions available to a race team during the season is mostly limited to wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics, both of which are being heavily regulated by sanctioning bodies. While these methods enable data collection on a regular basis with repeat-ability they are still only a simulation, and as such they come with some margin of error due to a number of factors. A significant factor for correlation error is the effect of tires on the flow field around the vehicle. This error is a product of a number of deficiencies in the simulations such as inability to capture loaded radius, contact patch deformation in Y direction, sidewall deformation and overall shifts in tire dimensions. These deficiencies are evident in most WT testing yet can be captured in CFD. It is unknown just how much they do affect the aerodynamics performance of the car. That aside, it is very difficult to correlate those findings as most correlation work is done at WT which has been said to be insufficient with regards to tire effect modeling. Some work had been published on the effect of tire deformation on race car aerodynamics, showing a large contribution to performance as the wake from the front tires moves downstream to interact with body components. Yet the work done so far focuses mostly on open wheel race cars where the tire and wheel assembly is completely exposed in all directions, suggesting a large effect on aerodynamics. This study bridges the gap between understanding the effects of tire deformation on race car aerodynamics on open wheel race cars and closed wheel race cars. The vehicle in question is a hybrid of the two, exhibiting flow features that are common to closed wheel race cars due to each tire being fully enclosed from front and top. At the same time the vehicle is presenting the downstream wake effect similar to the one in open wheel race cars as the rear of the wheelhouse is open. This is done by introducing a deformable tire model using FEA commercial code. A methodology for quick and accurate model generation is presented to properly represent true tire dimensions, contact patch size and shape, and deformed dimension, all while maintaining design flexibility as the model allows for different inflation pressures to be simulated. A file system is offered to produce CFD watertight STL files that can easily be imported to a CFD analysis, while the analysis itself presents the forces and flow structures effected by incorporating tire deformation to the model. An inflation pressure sweep is added to the study in order to evaluate the influence of tire stiffness on deformation and how this results in aerodynamic gain or loss. A comparison between wind tunnel correlation domain to a curved domain is done to describe the sensitivity each domain has with regards to tire deformation, as each of them provides a different approach to simulating a cornering condition. The Study suggests introducing tire deformation has a substantial effect on the flow field increasing both drag and downforce.In addition, flow patterns are revealed that can be capitalized by designing for specific cornering condition tire geometry. A deformed tire model offers more stable results under curved and yawed flow. Moreover, the curved domain presents a completely different side force value for both deformed and rigid tires with some downforce distribution sensitivity due to inflation pressure.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004-01-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:32:00Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 mazetto_fr_me_botfca.pdf: 1022011 bytes, checksum: 265f29fb21da2dc260b7ff72711bd637 (MD5) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / O desempenho operacional dos tratores agrícolas é dependente da interação dos rodados e a superfície de contato, sendo de extrema importância a seleção do tipo de pneu, pressão de inflação e lastragem para as diversas operações agrícolas, proporcionando maior eficiência de tração e menor compactação do solo, racionalizando assim, os custos operacionais do sistema produtivo. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar e correlacionar as metodologias de determinação das áreas de contato e deformações elásticas de pneus agrícolas em superfícies rígida e deformável, em função das pressões de inflação e das cargas radiais, com a finalidade de identificar a metodologia mais acurada e prática para cada condição de ensaio estático de pneus. O experimento foi realizado no Núcleo de Ensaio de Máquinas e Pneus Agrícolas (NEMPA) da Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas - UNESP, Câmpus de Botucatu, SP. Os pneus estudados foram do tipo R1 com as seguintes dimensões: pneu baixa pressão e alta flutuação (500/60-26.5) inflado com as pressões de 206,7 kPa, 103,3 kPa e 68,9 kPa; radial (14.9R26) com pressões de inflação de 186,1 kPa, 137,8 kPa e 68,9 kPa e diagonal (14.9-26) com pressões de 206,7 kPa, 137,8 kPa e 68,9 kPa; submetidos as cargas de 5 kN, 10 kN, 15 kN e 20 kN aplicadas por uma prensa hidráulica. As áreas de contato dos pneus agrícolas em superfície deformável foram obtidas em tanque de solo e em superfície rígida pelo método do pó, carbono e massa. Os valores das áreas de contato foram determinados por duas metodologias de cálculo: equação da elipse e digitalização das áreas. Os resultados permitiram concluir que a metodologia de cálculo das áreas de contato através da equação da elipse é confiável e prática para obter as áreas de contato dos pneus agrícolas... / The agricultural tractor performance is depended of interaction among the tire and contact surface, and then, the selection of tire type, its inflation pressure and tractor ballast are very important to several conditions of agricultural operation, proportioning higher efficiency of machines and lower soil compaction, rationalizing the operations costs of crop systems. This present research had for main objective the evaluation and correlation of methodologies of tire/ground contact areas and elastic deformations of agricultural tires on rigid and deformable surfaces, in function of inflation pressures and ballasts, identifying the methodology most accuracy and practice for each condition of tire static test. The research was carried out at Agricultural Machinery and Tire Testing Center (NEMPA), Rural Engineering Department of Agronomic Science College, Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu/SP, Brazil. The studied tires were of R1 type with the following dimensions: low pressure and high fluctuation tire (500/60-26.5) inflated with pressures of 206,7 kPa, 103,3 kPa and 68,9 kPa; radial ply (14.9R26) with inflation pressures of 186,1 kPa, 137,8 kPa and 68,9 kPa and bias ply (14.9-26) with pressures of 206,7 kPa, 137,8 kPa and 68,9 kPa. Four ballast conditions were applied on the wheels by hydraulic press: 5 kN, 10 kN, 15 kN and 20 kN. The contact areas of the agricultural tires on deformable surface were obtained in soil bin and on rigid surface by powder, carbon paper and modelling mass methods. The contact area values were determined by two calculus methodologies: ellipse equation and areas digitalization. The results of methodologies used to calculate the contact areas permit to conclude that ellipse equation can estimate with precision and practice the contact areas of agricultural tires...

<div>The development work of a race car revolves around numerous goals such as drag reduction,</div><div>maximizing downforce and side force, and maintaining balance. Commonly, these goals</div><div>are to be met at the same time thus increasing the level of difficulty to achieve them. The</div><div>methods for data acquisitions available to a race team during the season is mostly limited to</div><div>wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics, both of which are being heavily regulated</div><div>by sanctioning bodies. While these methods enable data collection on a regular basis</div><div>with repeat-ability they are still only a simulation, and as such they come with some margin</div><div>of error due to a number of factors. A significant factor for correlation error is the effect of</div><div>tires on the flow field around the vehicle. This error is a product of a number of deficiencies</div><div>in the simulations such as inability to capture loaded radius, contact patch deformation in</div><div>Y direction, sidewall deformation and overall shifts in tire dimensions. These deficiencies</div><div>are evident in most WT testing yet can be captured in CFD. It is unknown just how much</div><div>they do affect the aerodynamics performance of the car. That aside, it is very difficult to</div><div>correlate those findings as most correlation work is done at WT which has been said to be</div><div>insufficient with regards to tire effect modeling. Some work had been published on the effect</div><div>of tire deformation on race car aerodynamics, showing a large contribution to performance</div><div>as the wake from the front tires moves downstream to interact with body components. Yet</div><div>the work done so far focuses mostly on open wheel race cars where the tire and wheel assembly</div><div>is completely exposed in all directions, suggesting a large effect on aerodynamics.</div><div>This study bridges the gap between understanding the effects of tire deformation on race car</div><div>aerodynamics on open wheel race cars and closed wheel race cars. The vehicle in question</div><div>is a hybrid of the two, exhibiting flow features that are common to closed wheel race cars</div><div>due to each tire being fully enclosed from front and top. At the same time the vehicle is</div><div>presenting the downstream wake effect similar to the one in open wheel race cars as the</div><div>rear of the wheelhouse is open. This is done by introducing a deformable tire model using</div><div>FEA commercial code. A methodology for quick and accurate model generation is presented</div><div>to properly represent true tire dimensions, contact patch size and shape, and deformed dimension,</div><div>all while maintaining design flexibility as the model allows for different inflation</div><div>pressures to be simulated. A file system is offered to produce CFD watertight STL files that</div><div>can easily be imported to a CFD analysis, while the analysis itself presents the forces and</div><div>flow structures effected by incorporating tire deformation to the model. An inflation pressure</div><div>sweep is added to the study in order to evaluate the influence of tire stiffness on deformation</div><div>and how this results in aerodynamic gain or loss. A comparison between wind tunnel</div><div>correlation domain to a curved domain is done to describe the sensitivity each domain has</div><div>with regards to tire deformation, as each of them provides a different approach to simulating</div><div>a cornering condition. The Study suggests introducing tire deformation has a substantial</div><div>effect on the flow field increasing both drag and downforce.In addition, flow patterns are</div><div>revealed that can be capitalized by designing for specific cornering condition tire geometry.</div><div>A deformed tire model offers more stable results under curved and yawed flow. Moreover,</div><div>the curved domain presents a completely different side force value for both deformed and</div><div>rigid tires with some downforce distribution sensitivity due to inflation pressure.</div>

Resumo: O desempenho operacional dos tratores agrícolas é dependente da interação dos rodados e a superfície de contato, sendo de extrema importância a seleção do tipo de pneu, pressão de inflação e lastragem para as diversas operações agrícolas, proporcionando maior eficiência de tração e menor compactação do solo, racionalizando assim, os custos operacionais do sistema produtivo. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar e correlacionar as metodologias de determinação das áreas de contato e deformações elásticas de pneus agrícolas em superfícies rígida e deformável, em função das pressões de inflação e das cargas radiais, com a finalidade de identificar a metodologia mais acurada e prática para cada condição de ensaio estático de pneus. O experimento foi realizado no Núcleo de Ensaio de Máquinas e Pneus Agrícolas (NEMPA) da Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas - UNESP, Câmpus de Botucatu, SP. Os pneus estudados foram do tipo R1 com as seguintes dimensões: pneu baixa pressão e alta flutuação (500/60-26.5) inflado com as pressões de 206,7 kPa, 103,3 kPa e 68,9 kPa; radial (14.9R26) com pressões de inflação de 186,1 kPa, 137,8 kPa e 68,9 kPa e diagonal (14.9-26) com pressões de 206,7 kPa, 137,8 kPa e 68,9 kPa; submetidos as cargas de 5 kN, 10 kN, 15 kN e 20 kN aplicadas por uma prensa hidráulica. As áreas de contato dos pneus agrícolas em superfície deformável foram obtidas em tanque de solo e em superfície rígida pelo método do pó, carbono e massa. Os valores das áreas de contato foram determinados por duas metodologias de cálculo: equação da elipse e digitalização das áreas. Os resultados permitiram concluir que a metodologia de cálculo das áreas de contato através da equação da elipse é confiável e prática para obter as áreas de contato dos pneus agrícolas... / Abstract: The agricultural tractor performance is depended of interaction among the tire and contact surface, and then, the selection of tire type, its inflation pressure and tractor ballast are very important to several conditions of agricultural operation, proportioning higher efficiency of machines and lower soil compaction, rationalizing the operations costs of crop systems. This present research had for main objective the evaluation and correlation of methodologies of tire/ground contact areas and elastic deformations of agricultural tires on rigid and deformable surfaces, in function of inflation pressures and ballasts, identifying the methodology most accuracy and practice for each condition of tire static test. The research was carried out at Agricultural Machinery and Tire Testing Center (NEMPA), Rural Engineering Department of Agronomic Science College, Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu/SP, Brazil. The studied tires were of R1 type with the following dimensions: low pressure and high fluctuation tire (500/60-26.5) inflated with pressures of 206,7 kPa, 103,3 kPa and 68,9 kPa; radial ply (14.9R26) with inflation pressures of 186,1 kPa, 137,8 kPa and 68,9 kPa and bias ply (14.9-26) with pressures of 206,7 kPa, 137,8 kPa and 68,9 kPa. Four ballast conditions were applied on the wheels by hydraulic press: 5 kN, 10 kN, 15 kN and 20 kN. The contact areas of the agricultural tires on deformable surface were obtained in soil bin and on rigid surface by powder, carbon paper and modelling mass methods. The contact area values were determined by two calculus methodologies: ellipse equation and areas digitalization. The results of methodologies used to calculate the contact areas permit to conclude that ellipse equation can estimate with precision and practice the contact areas of agricultural tires... / Orientador: Kléber Pereira Lanças / Coorientador: Reginaldo Barboza da Silva / Banca: Afonso Lopes / Banca: Marcos Milan / Mestre