Design and manufacturing of a demonstrator of the tyre brush model

Sammanfattning

The tyre brush model is widely used to describe tyre-road interaction, but physicaldemonstrations are uncommon. A real-world demonstrator was therefore developedto improve understanding of how tyre elements deform in the longitudinal directionunder different operating conditions, including the formation of slip in the contactregion.A structured engineering design process was applied, including concept developmentand evaluation using systematic methods. The final system consists of a rotatingwheel with flexible bristles and a moving belt representing the ground surface. Thedemonstrator is driven by electric motors and controlled using an Arduino-basedsystem with motor drivers, allowing adjustment of operating conditions such as relativespeed. This makes it possible to illustrate different slip scenarios in a clearand repeatable way.The developed demonstrator partially visualises the intended real-world behaviourand represents a first step toward an educational tool for improving intuitive understandingof the tyre brush model. However, the demonstrator does not fullyreproduce the expected brush model behaviour, as the bristles fail to continuouslyincrease their deformation along the contact zone. Instead, they straighten towardthe middle of the contact patch, which deviates from theoretical predictions. Despitethis, certain key behaviours - such as increased bristle deformation at higherslip ratios and full loss of traction at low speed correlations - are observable. Futurework is needed to address these shortcomings before the demonstrator can be usedreliably as an educational tool.