Road Load Simulation using the MF-Swift Tire and OpenCRG Road Model 2011-01-0190

On one hand automotive manufacturers are trying to reduce product development times, while on the other hand they are aiming to bring more products to the market. Since safely and reliability must always be guaranteed, they use CAE to achieve this. For calculating road loads accurately, the tire and road model are key components of the CAE model.

TNO has developed the MF-Swift tire model, which is a Magic Formula based rigid ring model. In combination with its enveloping model, MF-Swift can be used to simulate the tire dynamic response to arbitrary road unevenness. MF-Swift is aimed to be an all-encompassing tire model that can be used for handling, ride comfort and durability applications. Since it is based on Pacejka's Magic Formula, its application for handling events is well-known. Recently the OpenCRG road format has been released which makes it possible to describe large pieces of digitized 3D road surfaces in a uniform and efficient way. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the combination of the MF-Swift tire model and the OpenCRG road format can be used to accurately simulate road loads for typical durability events, showing that the rigid ring model concept is an alternative to much more complex flexible ring models, while maintaining the advantages of using Pacejka's Magic Formula for describing the slip forces.