Numerical Modelling of Tyre/Road Interaction

Journal article, 2012

From November 2012 all passenger car tyres, light truck tyres and heavy duty vehicle tyres sold on the aftermarket in the European Union must have a label classifying the external rolling noise, the fuel efficiency, and the wet grip. This regulation puts a focus on optimisation of the tyre design with respect to all these parameters at once. Up to today these three parameters have been treated rather independently. There is little to no detailed information available on the relationship between rolling noise generation, rolling resistance, and grip of car tyres besides empirical data based on measurements. Today, simulation models that can simulate all these effects at once have just started to emerge. This paper gives a brief presentation of the past and the most resent development of numerical tyre/road interaction models with focus on external noise, rolling resistance, and grip. Today, the simulation models can be used to gain fundamental knowledge about the tyre/road interaction process and the resulting noise, rolling resistance, and grip. Models for combined optimisation of rolling resistance and noise emissions exists, and are just about to be used in preliminary investigations. Models that in addition give results for grip are still under development.