CFD study of aerodynamic performance of non-pneumatic tyre with hexagonal spokes. (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bhatia, Daksh; KR, Praneeth; Ponangi, Babu Rao; Athadkar, Meghana; Dsouza, Carine V
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Volume 235:Number 14(2021)
• Page Start: 3521
• Page End: 3529
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: Tyre -- SimScale -- CFD -- aerodynamics -- yaw -- camber; Mechanical engineering -- Congresses; Transportation engineering -- Congresses; 629.2
• DOI: 10.1177/09544070211013124
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-4070

Abstract

Non-pneumatic tyres (NPT) provide a greater advantage over the pneumatic type owing to their construct which increases the reliability of the tyre operation and effectively reduces maintenance involved. Analysing the aerodynamic forces acting on a NPT becomes a crucial factor in understanding it's suitability for practical implementation. In the present work, the aerodynamic performance of a NPT using CFD tool – SimScale ® is studied. This work includes a comparative study of a pneumatic tyre, a NPT with wedge spokes and a NPT with hexagonal spokes (NPT-HS). The effect of air velocity, steering (yaw) angle and camber angle on the aerodynamic performance of the NPT-HS is evaluated using CFD. By increasing the steering angle from 0° to 15°, the lift coefficient decreases by 37% approximately at all velocities. Whereas drag coefficient initially decreases by 21% till 7.5° steering angle and then starts increasing. Increasing camber angle from 0° to 1.5°, both drag and lift coefficients goes on decreasing by approximately 7% and 27% respectively.