Current Research

Enabling the Tweel for Passenger Vehicles

Principal investigators: 

Harry Law, John Ziegert, Beshah Ayalew and Lonnie Thompson

Graduate students:

Evan Lowe, Robert Powell and Anup Khakare

Sponsors:

Michelin and BMW

Brief abstract: 

The goal of this project is to model the ride and handling performance of a specific passenger vehicle equipped with both conventional pneumatic tires and with Tweel assemblies and recommend design parameters for a Tweel that will enable superior ride and handling properties. A second goal of the project is to model spoke dynamics of a Tweel and recommend design modifications to reduce spoke vibrations.

Project schedule:

January 2007 to January 2009