Effect of Tyre Overload and Inflation Pressure on Rolling Loss (resistance) and Fuel Consumption of Automobile Cars

Abstract

Rolling loss or rolling resistance is an ever important property for the tyre and automotive industries because of its practical implication. The tyre rolls under a load, it deforms. The load presses down on the tyre and squashes it against the road. As the tyre turns, the squashed part comes off the road and returns to its original shape while another part of the tyre gets squashed. The sidewalls of the tyre flex over and over again, close to 500 times per minute at highway speeds. And, the tread goes from a circular to a flat shape and back to circular again there are some practical things that can reduce deformation and heat. Inflation pressure has an effect. Underinflated tyres deform much more, get much hotter, and cut fuel economy. So properly inflated tyres save fuel by reducing rolling resistance. Fuel consumption and tyre rolling loss in all types of automobiles have become increasingly important because of adverse environmental effects and economic costs. If rolling resistance is reduced because of better tyre maintenance, consumers may end up spending less on tyres, because properly inflated tyres will have longer wear in addition to providing better fuel economy. In this thesis, the effect of rolling resistance on fuel consumption of radial passenger and truck tyres is discussed. A possible method of optimizing fuel use by adjusting the tyre load/pressure Conditions will be suggested. All these estimates will be obtained for radial tyres. Finite element analysis is done on the tyre by applying tyre load and inflation pressure. The investigations are made on two tyre models of automobile cars Skoda Rapid and Ford Classic. Modeling is done in Pro/Engineer and analysis is done in Ansys.