Toyo taps 'supercomputers to accelerate tire design process

Hyogo, Japan - Toyo Tire Corp. has accelerated its tire design process by linking a 'seventh generation, high-performance computing (HPC) system' to its tire design platform “T-Mode”.

The T-Mode platform was originally designed to combine data from various R&D simulation programmes conducted by the Japanese tire maker.

In 2019, Toyo incorporated AI into this conventional tire design base-technology, using computer-aided engineering to create a new "T-Mode." (ERJ report)

In a 16 July statement, Toyo said it has now positioned “supercomputers” as a core resource for T-Mode for the “speedy development of higher performance tires.”

Using the latest HPC system, Toyo has “further optimised” its current T-Mode software: reducing the calculation time required by designers to “less than half of what it previously took.”

The accelerated data-gathering capability, said Toyo, is expected to improve the predictive accuracy of the 'inverse problem' of the deep learning model.

The 'inverse problem', it explained, refers to "a backward [engineering] process of determining the underlying parameters or causes from observed data or effects."

In the context of deep-learning and engineering, Toyo said this involves deriving design specifications like tire structure, shape, and pattern from given performance values.

The use of upgraded supercomputers and independently developed software enables highly accurate simulation of both tire structure and vehicle behaviour, continued Toyo.

As a result, it expects to produce tires with “excellent rolling resistance and wear resistance” through “dramatically" increasing the number of large-scale aerodynamic and material property predictions.

Toyo said it used such technologies in developing its new Open Country A/T III large-diameter tire for EV pickups and SUVs, being sold in North America.