Road Noise reduction: Virtualizatin of tire model

Due to increasingly shorter vehicle development timelines, cost constraints, and the need to define more precise performance targets, virtual tire development is increasingly being considered as a key objective within the vehicle design process. However,it is not yet a fully established or standardized methodology. In this approach, initial physical tests are performed to establish the target parameters and assess the current vehicle status. These results then guide the virtual development phase: the supplier provides several virtual tire models (up to ten), which are tested entirely in simulation. This allows engineers to define the most promising design direction without the need to physically manufacture each tire prototype. The benefits are: development becomes faster and more cost-efficient, as there is no need to repeatedly produce steel molds for tires that might ultimately not meet performance requirements or be used in series production. At the time of this work, virtual tire development does not yet represent a fully established or standardized process within vehicle development. Instead, it is an evolving methodology whose structure, assumptions, and validation criteria still need to be clearly defined. The primary objective of this thesis is therefore to contribute to the creation and validation of a virtual tire development process by establishing a consistent workflow, identifying suitable simulation models, and defining appropriate validation strategies against physical test data. In the future, the validation of tires proposed by the supplier could be carried out virtually. Only those meeting the targets of the various departments (NVH, Handling, etc.) will then be physically produced and tested on the prototype vehicle. Looking ahead, all other vehicle components will also be progressively digitalized, allowing each department to assess the impact of design changes virtually. For instance, if a design modification is introduced to a suspension component, the department can immediately assess its impact within the virtual environment. Should the change negatively influence the established targets, it will be possible to either prevent its implementation or define an appropriate compromise.