| CPC G01M 17/02 (2013.01) | 3 Claims |
|
1. A drum-type tire testing apparatus for performing a test by rotating a tire while the tire is in contact with a drum, the apparatus comprising:
a plurality of sensors provided on an outer circumferential surface of the drum and arranged side by side along a widthwise direction of the drum to measure ground contact forces at positions in ground contact with the tire; and
a calculation unit for obtaining, based on the ground contact force measured by the sensors, a displacement amount of the ground contact position in the widthwise direction and a change amount of the ground contact force in the widthwise direction corresponding to the displacement amount of the ground contact position, thereby calculating a lateral stiffness based on the displacement amount and the change amount of the ground contact force;
wherein the calculation unit: obtains the ground contact force distribution using the ground contact forces measured by the sensors; identifies, from the ground contact force distribution, a plurality of rib regions that divide the entire ground contact surface of the tire along a widthwise direction; calculates, for each of the identified rib regions, the displacement amount, in the widthwise direction, of the center position of each rib region, and at the same time, calculates, for each rib region, the change amount of the cumulative value of the ground contact forces in the widthwise direction and corresponding to the displacement amount; and calculates, for each of the rib regions, the lateral stiffness for each rib region from the displacement amount of the center position and the change amount of the cumulative value of the ground contact forces.
|