Stability of towed wheels with elastic steering mechanism and shimmy damper

Abstract

This paper investigates a low degree-of-freedom wheel model, which describes the lateral vibration of towed wheels, called the shimmy. The model takes into account the lateral deformation of the tyre and also the torsional elasticity and the damping of the steering mechanism. The lateral deformation of the wheel is modeled by the stretched string-like tyre model, which considers the relaxation of the tyre during rolling. The linear stability analysis of this shimmy model is presented and the stability properties are examined in different parameter ranges of the model.