Toyo's DSOC II Enhancing Tire Performance with State-Of-The-Art Supercomputing Design Technology

DSOC II, the Next Step
Toyo's Integrated and Optimized Tire Design Engineering Process uses DSOC II simulations to formulate highly accurate predictions of tire behavior during vehicle operation.
DSOC II, or Dynamic Simulation Optimized Contact II, is Toyo's highly advanced dynamic simulation model for optimizing tire design. Because a vehicle's tires constantly change shape in accordance with the vehicle's movement and road conditions, the ability of the tires to respond and react to forces directly affects such characteristics as the vehicle's responsiveness, the smoothness of the ride, and the occupants' comfort.
Tire design also has a major impact on the vehicle's fuel consumption. The use of DSOC II during tire design to simulate tire behavior while in motion ensures that enhanced performance benefits are realized through the analysis of such areas as wear resistance, rim fit, running stability, durability, and fuel consumption.

More Powerful Design Analysis with ST ACS
and CASPAN
Whereas the original DSOC- T method used a straight groove pattern in its simulations (Fig. a), the advanced supercomputing power of DSOC II enables the analysis of full-pattern models (Fig. b) showing more detailed tire behaviors.

Ever-greater Benefits
DSOC-II analysis during the design stage brings about improved tire performance in all areas. For example, DSOC II technology makes possible the calculation of the friction energy among the blocks on the tread and within each block, enabling Toyo to estimate wear rates and design tires with superior strength.
We also use DSOC II to simulate surface shapes and contact pressure distributions during driving, for example, when cornering. These simulations permit the optimization of driving stability through the modification of the designs of tire profiles to use the most suitable construction methods and materials.
Another area enhanced by DSOC is rim fit. Poorly mounted tires are unbalanced, resulting in vibration, driving instability, and irregular tire wear, and the current X-ray inspection method cannot ensure proper fitting pressure at the rim surface. DSOC enables simulation of bead shapes and fitting pressures to optimize tire fit on the rim, leading to the reduction of gaps and to uniform surface pressure between the tire and the rim.
The elasticity of tires provides their mobility but also results in energy loss and rolling resistance. We therefore use DSOC II during tire design to reduce energy consumption by analyzing internal stresses, calculating energy loss, and predicting rolling resistance.

Ongoing Improvements for Passenger Vehicles
The use of DSOC II has led to significant improvements in tire patterns, forms, internal structures, and materials through the use of two analytical software packages called STACS and CASPAN.
STACS, or Structural Analysis Computer Software, is a 3-dimensional, non-linear supercomputer software program that accurately simulates tire response to road surfaces when accelerating, braking, steering, and in response to other forces encountered during driving.

CASPAN, or Computer Aided Simulator for Pattern Noise, predicts pattern noise produced by the tread pattern as tires make contact with the road surface. CASP AN's analysis of tread designs focuses attention on tire contact shape and pressure distribution, allowing us to reduce pattern noise by optimizing combinations of pattern block formulations, pitch positioning, phases, and the distribution of contact pressures.

Toyo's award-winning simulation theory DSOC- T, Dynamic Simulation Optimized Contact Theory
First implemented in 1988, this technology was presented the Superior Paper Award in 1989 from the U.S. Tire Society, the world's most authoritative tire association. Toyo was the first Japanese tire maker to receive this award.