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Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) is a critical safety component and its performance is crucial for every vehicle manufacturer. The tire plays an important role during an ABS braking maneuver as it is the component that connects the vehicle to the ground and is responsible for generating braking force. The steady-state and transient properties of the tire affect the operation of the vehicle's ABS system and consequently affects its performance/ operational efficiency. The main objective of this study is to investigate how tire design changes influence its interaction with the ABS and its eventual effect on stopping distance. This was conducted through an experimental study where tires were built with three levels of variation in carcass stiffness, tread stiffness and tread compound. Following this, ABS braking maneuvers were performed on two instrumented vehicles including a mid-tier sedan and a high-performance sports car.

Tread depth, inflation pressure, tire temperature, and road surface condition are among the most notable factors that have a noticeable effect on the tire force and moment characteristics. They can vary significantly during the operation of a tire and can effectively modify tire (and thus vehicle) performance. This study presents details of an adaptive magic formula (MF) tire model capable of coping with changes to the tire operating condition. More specifically, extensions have been made to the magic formula expressions for tire cornering stiffness and peak grip level, to account for variations in the tire inflation pressure, load, tread-depth and temperature. As a next step, the benefits of using an adaptive tire model for vehicle control system applications is demonstrated through simulation studies for enhanced vehicle control systems using an adaptive tire model in comparison to traditional control systems based on a non-adaptive tire model with fixed model parameters.

This paper outlines the development of a simulation-based process for assessing the handling performance of a given set of tires on a specific vehicle. Based on force and moment data, a Pacejka tire model was developed for each of the five sets of tires used in this study. To begin with, simple handling metrics including under-steer gradient were calculated using cornering stiffness derived from the Pacejka model. This Pacejka tire model was subsequently combined with a 3DOF non-linear vehicle model to create a simulation model in MATLAB/Simulink®. Other handling metrics were calculated based on simulation results to step and sinusoidal (General Motors Company) steering inputs. Calculated performance metrics include yaw velocity overshoot, yaw velocity response time, lateral acceleration response time and steering sensitivity. In addition to this, the phase lag in lateral acceleration and yaw rate of the vehicle to a sinusoidal steering input were also calculated.