SIMULATION OF THERMAL SIGNATURE OF TIRES AND TRACKS

Rubber is the main element of tires and the outside layer of tracks. Tire and track heating is caused by hysteresis effects due to the deformation of the rubber during operation. Tire temperatures can depend on many factors, including tire geometry, inflation pressure, vehicle load and speed, road type and temperature and environmental conditions. The focus of this study is to develop a finite element approach to computationally evaluate the temperature field of a steady-state rolling tire and track. The 3D thermal analysis software Radtherm was applied to calculate the average temperature of tread and sidewall, and the results of Radtherm agreed with ABAQUS results very well. The distributions of stress and strain energy density of the rolling tracks were investigated by ABAQUS as well. The future works were finally presented.