A study of forces and noise generation in a contact including adhesive bonds

Paper in proceeding, 2004

Paper to be published. Adhesive forces are present in the contact between a road surface and a rolling tyre. Theses forces may add up to substantial adherence forces, causing stick-snap excitation of tread blocks, high frequency noise generation, and increased rolling resistance. An experimental setup was designed to study the process when a tyre tread block sample was pressed onto a road surface sample, and hastily removed. Time variation of contact forces and sound pressure were measured. The same situation was modelled using a time domain model of two elastic bodies in non-linear dynamic contact. The contact area is spatially discretised in contact points and the contact problem is solved using an elastic half-space. The response of the block is calculated by convoluting the forces with pre-calculated impulse responses of the same block, which is modelled as a mass-spring system. The adhesive bounds are included by allowing negative contact forces; the contact at a point breaks when the calculated contact force reaches a specified negative value. Typical results from the experimental setup and the model are presented. It is concluded that the experimental setup is suitable for investigating the detachment process of the tread block and that the model is able to qualitatively capture the contact force and noise generation.