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UNIFORMITY:ACRUCIALATTRIBUTEOFTIRE/WHEELASSEMBLIES

ByMarionG.Pottinger
1

ENHANCEDABSTRACT:Goodride,acceptablecomfortforpassengers,isarequiredattributeforall
road vehicles particularly automobiles and light trucks. The tire / wheel assembly (ASSEMBLY in this
paper)isacriticalcomponentinprovidinggoodride.TheASSEMBLYeffectisusuallythoughtofintwo
ways.Thefirstisintermsoftransmissionofvibrationproducedbytheinteractionofthetirewithroad
surfaceirregularities,harshness.
2
Thesecondisintermsoftirestructuralirregularitygeneratedenergy
transmitted during operation on a smooth road, uniformity.
3
Both types of energy share the dynamic
propertiesofthetirestructurethoughtheydifferinsource.

Thispaperisabroadreviewofthesubjectofforceuniformityprimarilyfocusedondisturbancesatthe
wheelrotationrate,firstharmoniceffects,becauseresearchhasshownthesetobethemostcriticalto
goodride.BalanceistouchedononlyasitaffectsforceuniformityinwellbalancedASSEMBLIES.

A review of uniformity basics begins the discussion. Four major points are made and backed with
referencesandappropriatefigures.

1. The variations of two forces, radial and foreaft, and one moment, aligning moment, are
responsibleformostoftheridedisturbancesattributedtononuniformity.
2. FourierAnalysisisappliedtodecomposeuniformitywaveformsintoaseriesofpuresinewaves,
either sine or cosine, whose frequency depends on the frequency of rotation of the assembly,
wherethefirstharmonicisattheASSEMBLYrotationfrequency.
3. Each waveform varies with speed due to variation of the excitation with speed and because of
interactionswithtireandwheelnaturalfrequencies.
4. All service adjustments to ASSEMBLIES such as balancing and match mounting are based on
adjustingfirstharmonicbehavior.

The literature reviewed shows that only tire runout, rim runout, rim width variation, tire bead area
placement variation, and other bead seating errors remain as sources of first harmonic uniformity
disturbancesinwellmaderadialtires.Theliteraturealsostatesthatradialtiresarebasicallyastiffhoop
supported on a set of sidewall cords tensioned by inflation. Consequently, the static balance heavy
pointofthetirealoneisatthehighpointofthetirescrownradialrunout.Thecrucialeffectofrunout
onradialforcefirstharmonicisshownbyFigure1drawnfromtheworkofRhyne,Goll,andChang
4
.

1
Contactinformation.
2
Harshness describes vibration arising from a train of quickly decaying responses to individual sharp road
irregularities,suchastarstrips.Itisprimarilytactile,butisaccompaniedbynoiseinthe30to100Hzrange.Thisis
aslightmodificationtothedefinitioncontainedinSAEJ2047.
3
UniformityisperiodicvibrationattheASSEMBLYrotationfrequencyanditsharmonics.Itarisesduetoinherent
imperfectionsintherotatingtireandwheel,seeJ2047.
4
T. B. Rhyne, R. Gall, and L. Y. Chang, Influence of Rim RunOut on the Nonuniformity of TireWheel
Assemblies,TireScienceandTechnology,TSTCA,Vol.22,No.2,AprilJune.1994,pp.99120.

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TheworkofWalkerandReeves,
5
whichshowedthatrunoutvariationisalsothesourceoffirstharmonic
th the square of driving speed, is thoroughly
discussed including associated mathematical
analyses including the extension by Richards
foreaft nonuniformity force, a force that varies wi
three potential methods of service
t i i
6

to include the effect of the radial tire first

natural frequency in the torsional direction.
Graphical examples of first harmonic speed
dependencyareprovided.

The
adjustment o reduce f rst harmon c excitation
are reviewed and a generalization of the
method of match mounting that can very
nearly completely eliminate first harmonic
excitations arising from ASSEMBLIES is
proposed.

1.CancellingFirstHarmonicsUsingWeights
Thismethod,aperturbationofbalancing,is
.showntobeineffective.Thisisbecauseit
. I is not possible to balance tire and wheel
..uniformity in a manner which satisfies
..boththeradialandforeaftdirectionsover
..a wide speed range. Diagrams showi
whythisissoarepro
ng
vided.
2. UniformityGrindingThismethodinvolvesselectiveremovaloftreadrubberfromthetire.Itis
discussedinitshistoricalcontext.Unfortunately,whileitcanprovidehelpwiththeradialforce
firstharmonicofthetire,itcannotdealwiththeproblemofforeaftfirstharmonic.
3. Match Mounting In this method the runout of the wheel is used to offset the runout of the
tirebyphasingthetwocomponentsresultinginareducedASSEMBLYrunout.Thisreducesboth
radial and foreaft first harmonic forces, but does not work as well as one would predict. The
reason for this, rim lateral width variation between rim the flanges, was published by Rhyne,
Gall,andChang,seefootnote4.Datarelatedtothiseffectarerepublishedinthispaper.

Additionally, balancing is briefly reviewed because imbalance is also an additional source of first
harmonicexcitation.

The information in the halfcentury of references analyzed is distilled into 12 observations. Based on
these observations and the fact that ride treatment of tire / wheel ASSEMBLIES is fundamentally
confinedtocorrectingradialforcefirstharmonicandforeaftforcefirstharmonic,fourbasicconclusions
arestated.

5
J. C. Walker and N. H. Reeves, Uniformity of Tires at Vehicle Operating Speeds, Tire Science and
Technology,TSTCA,Vol.2,No.3,Aug.1974,pp.163178.

6
T.L.Richards,TheRelationshipBetweenAngularVelocityVariationsandForeandAftNonuniformityForcesin
Tires,SAE900761,SocietyofAutomotiveEngineers,Warrendale,PA,1990
Figure1 Correlation of First Harmonic
Radial RunOut and First Harmonic Radial Force
Variation
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The conclusions suggest an enhancement to the match mounting technique that can yield a near
perfect solution to first harmonic nonuniformity. The concept is this. Make the wheel center hole
larger than needed to pilot the assembly and insert an element (RING) between the hub and wheel,
which is off center just the right amount to make the radial runout of the ASSEMBLY based on first
harmonicradialforcezero.Figure2isasketchofthisarrangement.

Figure2 AnExampleASSEMBLYIncorporatingtheAbilitytoDeliberatelyOffsettheWheelCenter

Methods for employing the concept are discussed rounding out the papers look at first harmonic
uniformity.