Multiscale Simulation to Determine Rubber Friction on Asphalt Surfaces

Abstract

ABSTRACT The interaction between rubber and asphalt pavement depends on the roughness characteristics of the road surface, as well as the contact pressure, slip velocity, and temperature. A homogenization procedure of rubber friction, based on the finite element method, is presented, in order to gain surface dependent friction properties by numerical simulation. Furthermore, the method allows a deep insight into microscale phenomena, like real contact area, microscopic contact pressure, or flash temperature. Rubber undergoes large deformations in contact with rough surfaces. Therefore, the material characteristics of rubber need to be modeled by hyperelasticity and viscoelasticity at finite deformations and dependent on temperature. Thus, hysteresis friction, originating in energy dissipation of the bulk material, i.e., the viscoelastic properties, is evaluated. Adhesion friction is a phenomenon associated with the real contact area and is included in the proposed methodology by a physically motivated, fracture mechanical approach. The resulting macroscopic friction features are validated by experiments based on a linear friction tester. Analytical state of the art solutions are compared with the numerical results.