Intelligent tyres: Tire Society details 42nd annual conference papers

The Tire Society has published the details of presentations scheduled for its 42^nd Annual Conference (12-13 September 2023, at the University of Akron, Ohio). In addition to in-person attendance, benefitting from live Q&A, sponsor exhibits and a student poster session, registrants can access the presentations after the Conference via a “play-on-demand” feature. Registration includes Tire Society Membership, which gives access to the critically reviewed Tire Science and Technology Journal.

Attendees at the Conference can expect significant content and high-quality presentations on original works in the field of tyre technology delivered by the authors, in keeping with the Tire Society’s position as “the world’s leading membership organization for tyre science, engineering and technology.”

The Conference is a unique, global experience, with presenters across the globe, including those from Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, Taiwan, and the USA. In keeping with this year’s “Intelligent Tire” theme, expected papers will dive into tyre-road interaction measurements, virtual tyre assembly modelling, sensors and models for health monitoring, and tyre stiffness characterization, including versus real-world driving scenarios.

Tire Design topics are also covered including work on tread pattern and tyre cavity optimization, the latter with machine learning, and multiple papers on abrasion, noise, traction, friction, and wear. Presentations on materials topics are expected, including compounding for the Mars Rover and chemical composition and environmental considerations.

In addition to the papers, nine student posters will be stationed outside the conference hall doors, presenting an opportunity to connect one-on-one with the next generation of tyre technologists.

Sumitomo and Continental-based engineers amongst headline speakers

This year’s Keynote Speaker will be David Johansen, Vice-President -Technical at Sumitomo Rubber USA. Johansen has over 25 years of industry experience, joining Sumitomo in 2015. Over his extensive career, he has held a number of leadership positions over the years at Sumitomo and Goodyear, including Manager of Tire Design at Sumitomo. Since 2019, he has been responsible for the SRI North American Technical Center in Buffalo, New York and Huntsville, Alamaba. He holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and is a member of U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association.

The second day of the Conference will be anchored by the Plenary Lecture, featuring Burkhard Wies, Vice-President Innovation & Applied Research R&D Tires at Continental AG. The topic of his talk will be “Challenges & Opportunities of Intelligent tires to support vehicle performance & Services.” Dr Wies has held a number of management positions in Tire Development and Industrialization for Replacement and Original Equipment, since he joined Continental in 1999 from Uniroyal Englebert GmbH in Aachen, Germany. Dr. Wies is a member of the Tire Society Executive Committee Board. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Technical University RWTH Aachen and lectures at Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany.

The Banquet Speaker will be delivered by Judy Curran, who has over 30 years of experience in automotive/mobility engineering, and technology leadership. She currently is the Sr. Chief Technologist (CTO) Automotive at Ansys, partnering with OEMs and suppliers in their digital transformation. The title of her talk is “Automotive Trends and the ‘Art of the Possible’ with Simulation”. She is also an independent corporate board director at FORVIA, and MicroVision providing guidance on the automotive industry, and key technologies. Incrementally, Curran is an independent director of the SAE International, and was elected to the Top 100 Women in the Automotive Industry by Automotive News. She holds an MSEE from the University of Michigan.