The influence of road surface unevenness on tyre rolling resistance
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Gdańsk University of Technology
Publication date: 2015-12-30
The Archives of Automotive Engineering – Archiwum Motoryzacji 2015;70(4):35-46
ABSTRACT
The geometric characteristics of road surface substantially affect the interaction between tyre and road. Depending on pavement texture wavelength, the texture chiefly affects tyre/road friction, rolling resistance, interior and exterior noise, tyre wear, and ride comfort. The article presents results of investigations on the influence of road surface unevenness on the rolling resistance of passenger car and truck tyres. The tests were carried out on a roadwheel facility being a part of the test equipment of the Automotive Tyre Testing Laboratory of the Gdańsk University of Technology, where a specially made replica road surface with a sinusoidal unevenness profile was mounted on the drum, and on a test road. The unevenness profile under test was characterized by a wavelength of 0.8 m and amplitude of 10 mm, which corresponded to the road surface type commonly referred to as “washboard”. The objective of the experiments was to ascertain whether the increase in rolling resistance observed on uneven road surfaces is exclusively caused by an increase in the energy losses in suspension system damping elements or the energy losses in the tyre actually rise as well. The tests revealed that, on the sinusoidal road surface as defined above in comparison with the “Safety Walk” smooth sandpaper like surface, the rolling resistance of passenger car tyres grew by about 10 % and rolling resistance of truck tyres increased about 30 %.