Track temperature influence on lateral dynamic performances of different tires and vehicles evaluated using a simple compensatory model

In an automotive industry where the vehicle development stages are becoming more complex and accurate, for the manufacturers it is even more important to be able to quickly compare the results of experimental tests performed on the road in different conditions, in particular at different asphalt and air temperatures. If robust simulation tools can compare the acquired data available and evaluate a balanced target of the measures needed, a significant amount of time can be saved. The goal of this master thesis is to study how the asphalt temperature influences the tire and the vehicle lateral dynamic performance, considering mainly the cornering stiffness of both axles and then the parameters of the ramp steering. Moreover, it is needed to create a corrective algorithm so that the outcomes of every test executed at a random asphalt temperature can be transposed to the reference one (25°C). This project is the result of a nine-months internship in Stellantis NV and is mainly divided into three parts. The first one, that was a review of bibliographical research and considerations made by the previous thesis worker, is dedicated to the identification of an analytical model able to capture the phenomenon accurately: a wide and solid database of measurements was built, generalization and optimization of the model was just defined thanks to a compensative tool in a MatLab bicycle model. The second part is related on the sweep maneuvers considering different types and segments of vehicles and the, more specifically, the behavior of the lateral dynamics with different tires mounted on one specific vehicle. Finally, the third and last part is devoted analyzing the ramp steer maneuvers where the focus is to update the measured values of the numerical transfer functions that describe the dynamic behavior of the vehicle during the test and compare the results with the original curves, once again transposed the outputs of test executed to the reference temperature of 25°C.