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H.-J. Payer, G. Meschke, H.A. Mang:
"Application of the Finite Element Method to the Analysis of Automobile Tires";
in: "Proceedings of the IUTAM/IACM Symposium on Discretization Methods in Structural Mechanics II", H.A. Mang, F. G. Rammerstorfer (ed.); Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1999, 241 - 248.

The ingredients required for computationally efficient large-scale 3D FE contact analyses of automobile tires are presented. A hybrid finite element is employed for describing the nearly incompressible behaviour of rubber. The reinforcing cords are represented numerically by means of rebar elements. Strategies for reducing the amount of CPU time and disk space are reported including an ierative solver with preconditioning. Problems with the available commerical contact algorithm in the context of this 3D simulations and 2D analyses of tread blocks moving on snow suggested the implementation of a contact algorithm, at the moment for 2D problems, into the existing FE program. The derivation of the relations for the contact stiffness matrix and the force vector is described. Frictional effects are considered by means of a regularized Coulomb friction law. Details of the employed contact-search algorithm are given.

Keywords: tire