Italy-based vehicle dynamics company, MegaRide, has launched RIDEsuite, a simulation platform designed to reduce time and costs in the development and testing phases of tyres and vehicles for both road and motorsport application. The modular and multiphysical platform comprises four applications, which can simulate the physical phenomena that affect a vehicle when it interacts with the external environment. The system constantly monitors tyre temperature, wear, footprint, grip and road surface conditions, considering these factors both in isolation and together.
The four applications are the thermoRIDE physical thermal model, which predicts the temperature of the tyres in real time; the weaRIDE energy-based wear model, developed to detect and predict the degradation of tread polymers; the threedeeRIDE model, which reproduces all the dynamics that affect the tyre’s contact patch and simulates driving situations caused by kerbs, bumps and road roughness, helping to improve the driver’s feeling; and the adheRIDE advanced interaction model, which collects and reproduces the information of the other physical models, also taking into account tread wear, road roughness, viscoelasticity of the compound, grip, temperature and inflation pressure.
The platform can be integrated with real-time driver-in-the-loop simulators to provide accurate theoretical hypotheses. These hypotheses can then be applied to the modelled system in order to reproduce real-world conditions. The platform also has an analysis tool that can be used to verify all stages of development, considering each of the variables in the interaction between tyre, vehicle and road surface. MegaRide says that RIDEsuite offers car manufacturers and tyre manufacturers a common platform for the design of original equipment tyres.
“The real novelty and uniqueness of RIDEsuite is that it offers the possibility to simulate and measure all the factors that affect a tyre, when it comes to its interaction with the vehicle and the road surface,” explained Flavio Farroni, CEO and co-founder of MegaRide. “A package like RIDEsuite, designed both to be integrated with simulators and to be an analysis tool, allows manufacturers to shorten development and testing times, reduce costs and achieve significant improvements in terms of performance.”
