Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 1750: A Strain-Based Intelligent Tire to Detect Contact Patch Features for Complex Maneuvers (Sensors)

Tires are essential components of vehicles and are able to transmit traction and braking forces to the contact patch, contribute to directional stability, and also help to absorb shocks. If these components can provide information related to the tire–road interaction, vehicle safety can be increased. This research is focused on developing the tire as an active sensor capable to provide its functional parameters. Therefore, in this work, we studied strain-based measurements on the contact patch to develop an algorithm to compute the wheel velocity at the contact point, the effective rolling radius and the contact length on dynamic situations. These parameters directly influence the dynamics of wheel behavior which nowadays is not clearly defined. Herein, hypotheses have been assumed based on previous studies to develop the algorithm. The results expose to view an experimental test regarding influence of the tire operational condition (slip angle, vertical load, and rolling velocity) onto the computed parameters. This information is used to feed a fuzzy logic system capable of estimating the effective radius and contact length. Furthermore, a verification process has been carried out using CarSim simulation software to get the inputs for the fuzzy logic system at complex maneuvers.