I have spent the past six years in the tire performance research and development group specializing first in tire noise and comfort. Over the last year, I have transitioned to focusing on tire handling. I have been called on as a key expert to help improve tire performance for noise, comfort, and handling for many vehicle manufacturers’ new vehicle development programs. I am currently working on developing new simulation capabilities for the handling performance with the goal of using simulated data to design better tires more quickly and reduce manufacturing costs during development.
One of my most interesting projects was to design and implement a new tool for analyzing tire tread patterns to reduce the variation in the acoustic content, and it is currently being used worldwide within Michelin. During the development of this tool, I had the opportunity to analyze historical data, instrument vehicles with microphones to take my own new data, plan tire builds to help validate the simulations, program the prototype tool and design the user interface. This new tool was used in the development of a new tire line and helped to significantly reduce the acoustic level.