Yokohama’s research on highly accurate fluid analysis and data mining for next-generation silent tire development, conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), has received an award from the High Performance Computing Infrastructure (HPCI) initiative for an Excellent Achievement Research Project.
HPCI was established by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to create a platform for a shared computational environment which connects Japan’s next-generation supercomputer, the K Computer, with supercomputers of universities and research institutions throughout Japan via a high-speed network.
The Yokohama–ISAS/JAXA project used the aeroacoustic simulation technology first announced by the team in 2014 to clearly demonstrate the impact of changes in a tire’s surface, such as the depth and width of the groove, on the acoustic waves (noise) generated by a rolling tire.
The project’s calculations involving huge amounts of data were done on the Tohoku University Cyberscience Center’s supercomputer (SX-ACE). The progress made by this project indicates the possibility of designing tire tread patterns that will lead to lower acoustic waves, which in turn could lead to the development of the next-generation of low-noise tires.
The Excellent Achievement Research Project award recognizes the suitability of applying the HPCI system’s big data calculation capabilities to conduct a systematic and reliable analysis that will contribute directly to the development of new tire designs.
