Modeling of tire-road surface interaction under wet conditions.

Abstract

The occurrence of wet-weather accidents, from the perspective of the road surface characters caused by poor fluid friction obtained from the tire hydroplaning, has for many years been a challenge for various road authorities. Any traction failure throughout high rushing causes fatal accidents and the loss of most human lives. Many researchers, since the 1920s focused on aspects of measurement and prediction of fluid friction and the development of strategies to reduce wet-weather condition accidents. Despite the improvements in measurement techniques, the understanding of hydroplaning mechanisms has not improved much over the past decades due to a lack of development in the theoretical and numerical models that can explain and simulate the mechanisms. The study aims to model a tire-road interaction using the finite element method to analyze fluid friction forces and hydroplaning effects during wet conditions. The findings show that the hydroplaning speed decreases with increasing water film thickness and tire inflation pressure i.e. a water thickness range of 1mm to 10mm generated a speed of 48.1m/s to 46.3m/s while a tire pressure range of 100kPa to 250kPa generated a speed of 42269.8m/s to 42261m/s. It was also observed that fluid friction force decreases with increasing tire sliding speed and water film thickness.

Keywords: CFD; ansys fluent; tire-road surface interaction; wet conditions