Tyre–pavement contact stress distribution considering tyre types

Abstract

Tyre–pavement contact stress distribution has a significant effect on mechanical responses in thin asphalt pavements and responses at near-surface of thick asphalt pavements. To achieve a more accurate tyre–pavement contact stress distribution considering tyre types, tyre loads and tyre inflation pressures for pavement design and analysis, three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) tyre–pavement models were developed. Two common tyre types (bias ply tyre and radial tyre) were considered in the models. Then, models were verified through the comparison between the predicted and measured tyre contact stresses. Excellent agreement between predicted and measured contact stresses was achieved. Then, the contact stress distributions between different tyres and pavement were analysed under different tyre loads and tyre inflation pressures combinations (nine working conditions). Results indicated that with the increase of vertical load, the location of maximum contact stress between bias ply tyre and pavement changed from inside to outside of tread while the maximum contact stress between radial tyre and pavement always appeared in the centre of tread. And under a same working condition, the maximum contact stress between radial tyre and pavement was larger than that between bias ply tyre and pavement. Besides, in the lateral direction, the variation range of the contact stresses under different ribs of a bias ply tyre was less than that of a radial tyre.