VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF NON-AXISYMMETRIC TIRES

A method is presented for predicting the effect of local non-uniformities such as the addition of concentrated masses or stiffnesses on the vibration characteristics of inflated tires. The approach, which is applicable to any linear vibration problem, is based on the receptance method. The natural frequencies and mode shapes of the non-axisymmetric tire have been formulated in terms of the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the axisymmetric tire. When various non-uniformity configurations are being considered for a given tire, the modal characteristics of the axisymmetric tire may be calculated once and used repeatedly to calculate the vibration characteristics of the non-axisymmetric tire.