Method for simulating the physical behavior of a tire and application to real-time simulation

A method for simulating the physical behavior of a tire equipping a vehicle that is stationary or virtually stationary on a ground with which a tread of the tire has a contact area including a gripping contact zone and a sliding contact zone, the vehicle having a steering lock angle that varies during simulation, the method being implemented by a computer and comprising the following steps to calculate a resultant force transmitted by the tire between the ground and the vehicle at a given instant:

• modelling the contact area in a form of a square surface;
• discretizing the square surface by subdivision into slices orthogonal to a direction of travel of the tire;
• for each slice, determining a nature of the contact, gripping or sliding, between the slice and the ground as a function of the steering lock angle;
• for each slice, calculating an elementary force exerted on the slice by application of predetermined equations, specific according to the nature of the contact, gripping or sliding, and expressed as a function of dynamic parameters linked to conditions of use of the tire and as a function of physical parameter characteristics of the tire;
• and
• calculating the resultant force by integration of the elementary forces over the entire square surface.