Studies of Tire Frictional Characteristics on the Snowy Road

The tire frictional characteristics, which are the most critical factors of braking performance, depend on the road condition. Unsafe accidents always occur when driving in a hostile environment, especially under snowy road conditions. The coupled dynamic behaviors between the tire and the snow on the road are closely related to the water film generated from the tire rolling on the snow. The winter tire and summer tire with specification 175/65R14 are modeled separately by the finite element method (FEM), and the stiffness characteristics of the winter tire are analyzed. Further, the coupled dynamic model between the tire and the snowy road is built by considering the tire motion effects of the water film. The tires’ friction coefficient is investigated under the straight snowy road with different velocities. It shows that the friction decreases as the velocity increases, and vice versa because the intermediate water film thickness between the tire and snow depends on the tire motion state.