CenTiRe-Funded Research Project Completed: Advancing Tire Modeling for Vehicle Performance

The Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe) is pleased to announce the successful completion of the research project “Tire Cord Properties for FEA Modal and Steady State Dynamic Analyses,” led by Dr. Michelle S. Hoo Fatt, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Akron.

This project tackled an important challenge in the automotive industry: accurately capturing the behavior of tire cords in computer simulations. Tire cords—key reinforcements in tire construction—play a major role in how tires perform, especially when it comes to noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) in vehicles. To design better tires, engineers need precise data on how these cords respond under different conditions.

Over the past two years, Dr. Hoo Fatt and her team developed advanced testing methods to measure how tire cords and cord-rubber laminates behave across a wide range of frequencies and strains. These insights were then incorporated into finite element analysis (FEA) models, allowing for more realistic simulations of tire vibrations. The outcome? Models that align much more closely with experimental results, reducing errors that occur when cords are modeled with simplified assumptions.

Key outcomes of the project include:

· New testing procedures for tire cords and cord-rubber laminates.

· Detailed data on how cord and rubber properties change under different loading conditions.

· Simulation tools that better predict real-world tire vibration behavior.

This research provides tire designers and engineers with a stronger foundation for creating next-generation tires that improve vehicle comfort, performance, and safety.

We congratulate Dr. Michelle Hoo Fatt and graduate researcher Nafis Soumik for their dedication and impactful contributions to CenTiRe’s mission.