External Tyre Loading Predictions from Inner Tyre Deformation Measurements

Tyre forces are the primary external forces applied to a vehicle, especially at lower speeds, but are notoriously difficult to measure or predict. An intelligent tyre that allows the external forces to be determined from simple measurements can be used to improve vehicle safety systems like ABS and stability control and mitigate collisions. An intelligent tyre has been developed at the University of Pretoria using stereovision cameras to measure strain and displacement on the inner surface of a tyre, but a model to predict force from these measurements has not been developed yet. This initial study investigates the viability of predicting external tyre loadings from inner tyre deformations.