2016 International Conference on Advanced Manufacture Technology and Industrial Application (AMTIA 2016)

ISBN: 978-1-60595-387-8

Finite Element Analysis of the Effect of Cracks on Tire

Jun-fei WU, Rui-qing LIU, Cheng-lin DU, Zhu-wen SHAO, Zhao-peng DU and
Peng WANG
College of Electromechanical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology Qingdao
266061, China

Keywords: 11.00R20 tire, Cracks, Multiscale finite element, J-integral, Tearing energy G, Life
prediction.

Abstract. The cracks on the carcass turn-up end of the 11.00R20 tire bead are common default,
unstable crack growth can lead to tire failure. It accounts for a large part of tire damage. In this paper,
based on multiscale finite element method, a sub-model with semicircle crack was created in tire bead,
based on mechanics of fracture, the impact on the J- integral and tearing energy of the crack in the tire
bead is obtained under different inflation pressure, based on tearing energy, the longevity of the tire
which has the crack in the tire bead was calculated, the danger of excessive charge pressure to the tire
life was concluded.

Introduction
With the development of the economy, cars are more and more important in our daily life and
transportation. As a support and force transferring component between road and a car, a tire plays an
important role[1]. Because of the complex traffic conditions and many unpredictable conditions on the
road, the tire is inevitably faced with cracks. The cracks mostly appear on the carcass turn-up end of
the bead, and they have a great impact on the safety performance of the tire[2]. In this paper, based
on ANSYS Workbench, a local sub-model of the 11.20R20 tire was established. The fracture
mechanics and finite element analysis were combined to study the cracks, obtained the sub-model
under different inflation pressure and the crack front stress, strain, tearing energy G and J-integral.
The changes of G and J-integral with pressure were fitted and the crack propagation longevity under
different inflation pressures was calculated and compared.

The Establishment of the Sub-Model

Geometric model of tire was established by using AutoCAD and Solid Works, then import the
model into the ANSYS Workbench. Composite model of the tire was built by using the ACP
module of the ANSYS Workbench, assembled with the rubber material part, finally established the
finite element model of tire.

Figure 1. The location of sub-model. Figure 2. Sub-model with semicircle crack.

Based on multiscale finite element analysis theory[3], in the bead we set a radius for 2mm
semicircular three-dimensional crack, using 20 node SOLID186 unit. In ANSYS Work bench, the
crack and nearby rubber parts extracted in geometry were built as sub-model, as shown in Figure 1
and 2. Tire integral displacement and constraints will be transmitted to the boundary of the sub
model, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Sub-model with applied displacement.

Research Method of Tire Crack Propagation

In this paper, the energy method of crack propagation was used to study the fatigue crack of tire,
and the J-integral[4] and the tearing energy G [5]were used to measure the crack's risk.

Analysis Result of the FEA

The Total Deformation, Stress, Maximum Principal Stress of the Sub-Model under the 100%
Inflation Pressure

Figure 4. Total deformation of tire bead sub-model. Figure 5. Equivalent stress of sub-model.

Figure 6. Maximum principal stress of sub-model. Figure 7. Maximum principal stress of crack.
Compared Figure 2 with Figure 4, when the tire endured the inflation pressure, the crack near the
carcass turn-up end of the bead generated opening deformation. We can see from Figure 6that the
maximum principal stress of the sub-model was in the middle part. This is because that above the
middle part of the sub-model is the carcass turn-up end of the bead, when the tire endured the
inflation pressure, it can have the trend to move outwardly, so the rubber under it was pulled. And
around the cracks, the middle portion of the cracks opened after the cracks were subjected to
tension, then released a portion of the tension So the maximum principal stress near the middle of
crack surface was relatively small, but the front of cracks played a restricted role to the pulling force,
as it was showed in Figure 7. So once the cracks happened on the carcass turn-up end ,it can have
the danger of propagation caused by tensile stress.
The Simulation Result of the Tearing Energy G and J-integral under the Different Inflation
Pressure

Figure 8. The tearing energy of the crack under100% pressure.

Figure 9. The tearing energy of the crack under110% pressure.

Figure 10. The tearing energy of the crack under120% pressure.

Figure 11. The tearing energy of the crack under130% pressure.

Figure 12. The J-integral of the crack under100% pressure.

 Figure 13. The J-integral of the crack under110% pressure.

Figure 14. The J-integral of the crack under120% pressure.

Figure 15. The J-integral of the crack under130% pressure.

It is shown from Figure 8 to Figure 15, with the increase of inflation pressure, the J-integral and
tearing energy G of the crack also increased, so the risk of unstable crack growth increased; From
changing J and G curve of the node from the initial point 1 to the end point 2 ,we can see that with
the increase of pressure, values of each curve increased, but the shape of the curve changed very
little and maximum values of J and G were almost at the same location of the crack.

Figure 16. Line graph about J-integral and pressure. Figure 17. Line graph about G and pressure.
The black line is the actual measurement; the red curve is the linear fitting curve. We can see that
for the same cracks of the tire with the different inflation pressure, inflation pressure and the tearing
energy and the J-integral is almost linear relationship. Generally speaking, only when the car
overload, the inflation pressure increase. So the tire suddenly failure caused by over-pressure is a
serious threat to automobile driving safety and people's life and property safety.
Life Assessment of the Crack Propagation
For rated inflation pressure and load of tires, the direction of the crack propagation had been
simplified and we simulated the crack propagation along the direction of the original crack plane,
extended for six steps, each step extended 1mm, left and right extensions alternately. Then got the
Gmax, Gmin and ΔG in every step, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Gmax, Gmin and ΔG in every step of crack propagation.
Step Gmax(mJ/mm2) Gmin(mJ/mm2) ΔG(mJ/mm2)
1 0.969 0.745 0.224
2 1.171 0.843 0.328
3 1.589 1.141 0.448
4 2.198 1.6 0.598
5 2.976 2.217 0.759

From Table 1, we can see that with the propagation of the crack, the ΔG increased very rapidly,
but every step propagation longevity of the crack decreased rapidly. It is also said a propagation rate
will be faster and faster, until the extension to the instability of the size and make the tire failure.
Therefore, early detection of the cracks and timely replacement of tire for safe driving are of
great significance.

Figure 18. Relationship between pressure and tire longevity.

As it is shown in Figure 18, for the tire over the inflation pressure, the longevity decreased
rapidly. The tire life under 110%, 120% and130% of the standard inflation pressure are 49%, 23%,
9% of the tire life under the standard inflation pressure respectively. So if the inflation pressure is
too high, it will greatly reduce the service life of the tire.

Conclusion
Based on the analysis of this paper can be seen: when the tire is under inflation pressure ,the carcass
turn-up end of the bead obviously has withdrawn trend ,which can stretch the rubber beside it,
caused tearing energy G and J-integral value is relatively large, and the greater the pressure the
greater the value. Inflation pressure and the tearing energy and the J-integral are almost linear
relationship, lager tearing energy G and J-integral value can increase the risk of crack instability,
causing sudden accident. For crack propagation simulation showed that crack growth rate is faster,
it need to pay attention to early crack of tire. Through the cracks life estimation showed with the
increase of the inflation pressures the life of cracked tire nearby carcass turn-up ends reduced
quickly, so the excess pressure can increase the likelihood of sudden tire failure, it can have a great
influence on fatigue life of the tire.

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Project of science and technology project of Shandong Province
(2014GGX103004).
References
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