Inflation Pressure Impact in Vehicle Handling: Self-Supporting Run-Flat Tires vs Conventional Tires

This work presents a comparative handling and stability analysis between conventional pneumatic tires and self-supporting run-flat tires (SSRFT) subject to severe inflation pressure loss. A comprehensive seven-degree-of-freedom (7-DOF) full-scale vehicle dynamics plant model was developed to evaluate vehicle performance across four distinct operational scenarios under the standardized closed-loop tracking constraints of the ISO 3888-2 double lane change maneuver. Dynamic vehicle behavior was quantified using a broad suite of handling metrics, including: individual tire lateral forces, transient lateral acceleration, yaw rate, body roll angle, exit speed, body sideslip angle, and Kamm friction circle envelopes. The simulation results demonstrate a severe degradation in trajectory tracking for deflated conventional configurations yielding critical understeer saturation. Conversely, the SSRFT configurations preserve sufficient cornering stiffness to remain within stable path boundaries. These findings provide high-value empirical insights essential for optimizing future active chassis management architectures and electronic stability control systems logic.