Ground-wheel contact with tires: drift phenomenon

There is an essential difference in behavior between a rigid wheel and a wheel fitted with a pneumatic tire. In fact, the deformation of the latter induces significant kinematic consequences, and in particular, the trajectory obtained will be different from that of a rigid wheel. This deformation is due to forces, so it will not be possible to have a purely kinematic vision; in other words, a vehicle fitted with tires is no longer kinematically determined. And learning to drive means, in part, learning to manage this deformation according to the forces that the driver himself generates, via the brake and gas pedal, in order to obtain the desired trajectory.

The mechanics of tires is complicated because it involves both constructive and ground-related data. The aim of tire modeling is to be able to take all these aspects into account, in variable proportions according...