Tread Pattern Research Articles

Optimization of tire tread pattern based on flow characteristics to improve hydroplaning resistance

Tire tread pattern is a crucial parameter to prevent hydroplaning. In this study, numerical modeling was used to investigate tire hydroplaning based on flow–structure interaction. The empirical model of hydroplaning speed published in the literature was used to validate the computational model. Analysis of water flow velocity and turbulent flow energy revealed that lateral grooves of the tire significantly influenced water drainage capacity. Based on the relationship between water flow vector and lateral groove shape, a combination of Kriging surrogate model and simulated annealing algorithm was used to optimize lateral groove design to minimize hydrodynamic lift force. Four geometry parameters of lateral grooves were selected as the design variables. Based on design of experiment principle, 12 simulation cases based on the optimal Latin hypercube design method were used to analyze the influence of design variables on hydrodynamic lift force. The surrogate model was optimized by the simulated annealing algorithm to optimize tire tread pattern. The results indicated that at the same water flow speed, the optimized lateral grooves can reduce hydrodynamic lift force by 14.05% and thus greatly improve safety performance of the tire. This study proves the validity and applicability of using numerical modeling for solving the complex design of tire tread pattern and optimization problem.

Numerical analysis on tractive performance of off-road tire on gravel road using a calibrated finite element method–discrete element method model and experimental validation

The interaction between off-road tires and granular terrain has a great influence on the tractive performance of off-road vehicles. However, the finite element method or the discrete element method cannot effectively study the interaction between off-road tires and granular terrain. The three-dimensional combined finite element and discrete element method is applied to handle this problem. In this study, a calibrated finite element method–discrete element method model is established, in which the finite element model of off-road tire is validated by stiffness tests, while the discrete element model of gravel particles is validated by triaxial compression tests. The calibrated finite element method–discrete element method model can describe the structural mechanics of the off-road tire and the macroscopic mechanical properties of the gravel road. Tractive performance simulations of the off-road tire on gravel road under different slip conditions are performed with the commercial software LS-DYNA. The simulation results are basically corresponded with the soil-bin test results in terms of granular terrain deformation and tractive performance parameters versus the slip rates. Finally, the effects of tread pattern, wheel load, and tire inflation pressure on tractive performance of off-road tire on granular terrain are investigated. It indicates that the calibrated finite element method–discrete element method can be an effective tool for studying the tire–granular terrain interaction and predicting the tractive performance of off-road tire on granular terrain.

Effect of Tread Design Changes on Tire Patch Dynamics at High Speeds Using a Dynamic Contact Force Measurement Rig

ABSTRACT The dynamic effects at the tire contact patch are one of the most difficult factors of a tire to measure. Generally, only the total forces at the tire axle are captured during the tests. There are a few methods for identifying the force distribution at the tire contact patch, but most of these methods are limited to static tests or dynamic tests at slow speeds under nonrepeatable conditions, such as with vehicle testing. Because of this limitation, A&D Company, Limited has developed a tire-testing machine called the dynamic contact force testing rig (DCFR) to measure the dynamic force distribution at the contact patch during high speeds and under reproducible conditions. Preliminary studies have shown that minute changes in shear stress and pressure distribution can be measured consistently. This study observes the dynamic force distribution in a high-performance tire under a variety of test conditions: varying normal load, speed, slip angle, and slip ratio. The tire tread was altered manually by siping additional longitudinal and lateral slits in the existing tread pattern. The tests were repeated for each tread pattern: stock tire tread, additional longitudinal slits, and additional lateral slits. The change in force distribution was compared along the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical axes. The results showed how small changes in tread design can influence tire performance. This article is a preliminary study, primarily investigating the capabilities of the DCFR while investigating basic observable trends in force distribution.

Macro-Scale Tread Patterns for Traction in the Intestine.

Tread patterns are widely used to increase traction on different substrates, with the tread scale, geometry and material being tailored to the application. This work explores the efficacy of using macro-scale tread patterns for a medical application involving a colon substrate - renowned for its low friction characteristics. Current literature was first summarized before an experimental approach was used, based on a custom test rig with ex vivo porcine colon, to assess different macro-scale tread patterns. Performance was based on increasing traction while avoiding significant trauma. Repeated testing (n = 16) was used to obtain robust results. A macro-scale tread pattern can increase the traction coefficient significantly, with a static traction coefficient of 0.74 ± 0.22 and a dynamic traction coefficient of 0.35 ± 0.04 compared to a smooth (on the macro-scale) Control (0.132 ± 0.055 and 0.054 ± 0.015, respectively). Decreasing the scale and spacing between the tread features reduced apparent trauma but also reduced the traction coefficient. Significant traction can be achieved on colon tissue using a macro-scale tread but a compromise between traction (large feature sizes) and trauma (small feature sizes) may have to be made. This work provides greater insight into the complex frictional mechanisms of the intestine and gives suggestions for developing functional tread surfaces for a wide range of clinical applications.

A Biomechanical Investigation of Athletic Footwear Traction Performance: Integration of Gait Analysis with Computational Simulation

Evaluations are vital to quantify the functionalities of athletic footwear, such as the performance of slip resistance, shock absorption, and rebound. Computational technology has progressed to become a promising solution for accelerating product development time and providing customized products in order to keep up with the competitive contemporary footwear market. In this research, the effects of various tread pattern designs on traction performance in a normal gait were analyzed by employing an approach that integrated computational simulation and gait analysis. A state-of-the-art finite element (FE) model of a shoe was developed by digital sculpting technology. A dynamic plantar pressure distribution was automatically applied to interpret individualized subject conditions. The traction performance and real contact area between the shoe and the ground during the gait could be characterized and predicted. The results suggest that the real contact area and the structure of the outsole tread design influence the traction performance of the shoe in dry conditions. This computational process is more efficient than mechanical tests in terms of both cost and time, and it could bring a noticeable benefit to the footwear industry in the early design phases of product development.

Аналіз протекторів колісних систем сільськогосподарського призначення

Пошук чинних напрямів дослідження для підвищення ефективності сільськогосподарських агрегатів, за допомогою оптимізації колісних пар, малюнка протектора та певного рівня тиску у шинах транспортних агрегатів. Попередній досвід свідчить про те, що при використанні важких сільськогосподарських машин та тракторів на полях нерідко дає негативний ефект і приводить до пагубної дії на ґрунт. В сільськогосподарський техніці використовується багато різних колісних систем. Для кожного окремого випадку наприклад для різних ґрунтів, доріг, різних погодних умов, різних агрегатів потрібно використовувати різні параметри для колісних систем. Такі параметри як: різний рівень тиску в повітряних камерах коліс, різні малюнки на протекторі колеса, змінювати висоту малюнка протектора колеса для покращення рівню прохідності. Малюнок протектора відіграє одну з найголовніших ролей в процесі щоденної експлуатації сільськогосподарської техніки. Він впливає на прохідність по ґрунту після атмосферних опадів, самоочищення та бокову стійкість. Для важкої сільськогосподарський техніці бажано використовувати такі малюнки протектора, як: «ялинка», «ключка» та багато-блоковий протектор. Встановлено, що протидіяти ущільненню ґрунту, а також там де вкрай небажано його пошкоджувати, і потрібна рівна поверхня та недопустимість дефектів використовується шини з низьким тиском. Встановлено, що залишається недостатньо досліджено вплив геометричних параметрів колісних систем та їх ефективності. У зв'язку чим необхідно розробити комплекс заходів, що спрямовані на збереження родючості ґрунтів. Таким чином треба ще звертати увагу на економічні показники використовування колісних пар. Дана проблема є досі актуальною для сільського господарства України

Justification of the Possibility of Changing of a Permissible Axle Load on the Road

This article includes an analysis of the possibility of changing current axle load and total weight limits for vehicles depending on the type of the vehicle and the season of the year during a transport of goods with modern vehicles. The weighing control has shown exceeding an actual weight and the axle load comparing to the maximum values limited by federal regulations. Ineffective use of a modern heavy vehicles in a transport of goods forces the construction organizations to break the rules of transporting or acquire special permissions. The limitations of the maximum values for the axle load and the total weight are established for the whole calendar period which is incorrect, since the road structure turns into “the monolith” due to freezing in the winter period. This gives a prerequisite to believe that it is required to take into account the seasonal features of the behavior of road structures while imposing maximum limitations established by federal law. An important factor that has a destructive influence on the road construction is not the load or the weight of the vehicle, but a pressure arising in a plane of a tread pattern on a road surface. The destructive influence on the road pavement could be insignificant with a large weight of vehicle and a certain diameter of tread pattern.

RETRACTED: Modeling Tire Tread Features

This study details an investigation into the accuracy of a recently proposed tire rotation simulation approach, termed the MRFgmethod. Physical experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted on a sedan-type passenger vehicle with various tire treads and rims. Furthermore, the effects of the wind tunnel geometry on the method's accuracy was investigated. The experimental data consisted of drag coefficients, front and rear lift coefficients, base and door surface pressures, and wake surveys at various planes around the wheels. Overall, a comprehensive set of validation data was taken. The CFD simulations were transient, and the geometry closely replicated the experimental geometry, including the tires' deformations. Generally, the MRFg method predicted the effects of the various tread patterns on the drag coefficient to within four counts. Some outliers occurred. The MRFg method predicted some of the flowfield trends and magnitudes very well, but not others. The inclusion of the wind tunnel geometry significantly increased the accuracy of the methodology.

Understanding the contribution of groove resonance to tire-road noise on different surfaces under various operating conditions

Reducing tire-road noise is now becoming more and more important during the tire development process. Tread profile randomization is used to avoid tonal components and reduce groove resonance noise. To better understand the groove resonance contribution to tire-road noise, we performed acoustic measurements on a test bench with two serial tires. We filled the grooves with acoustic foam to highlight the groove resonance’s contribution. We then varied the road surface, the tire load and the driving speed. In the end, we used a multiple linear regression to quantify the interaction between the varying parameters and the groove resonance noise. We show that groove resonance contributes an average of 1.7 dBA to the tire rolling noise of passenger car tires. Groove resonance noise also increases with the driving speed. While the tread pattern and the tire load are responsible for the spectral content of the groove resonance noise, the orientation of the road surface’s texture mainly influences the noise level of the groove resonance. The tire manufacturers should carefully consider these findings when developing noise-optimized patterns. This is especially true for tire approval tests, which take place on tracks and usually have a relatively low texture level that is oriented negatively.

Effect of Rubber Hardness and Tire Size on Tire-Pavement Interaction Noise

ABSTRACT Tire-pavement interaction noise (TPIN) is a dominant noise source for passenger cars and trucks above 25 mph (40 km/h) and above 43 mph (70 km/h), respectively. TPIN is generated due to excitations of the tread pattern and pavement texture. For the same tread pattern and pavement texture at the same speed, TPIN might also be influenced by the tire structure (e.g., the tread rubber hardness and tire size). In the present study, 42 tires with different rubber hardnesses and/or tire sizes were tested at five different speeds (45–65 mph, i.e., 72–105 km/h) on a nonporous asphalt pavement (a section of U.S. Route 460, both eastbound and westbound). An on-board sound intensity system was instrumented on the test vehicle to collect the tire noise data at both the leading edge and the trailing edge of the contact patch. An optical sensor recording the once-per-revolution signal was also installed to monitor the vehicle speed and, more importantly, to provide the data needed to perform the order-tracking analysis to break down the tire noise into two components. These two components are the tread pattern noise and the non–tread pattern noise. It is concluded that for the nonporous asphalt pavement tested, the non–tread pattern noise increases with rubber hardness by ∼0.23 dBA/Shore A. The tire carcass width (section width plus two times section height) influences the central frequencies of the non–tread pattern noise spectrum; the central frequencies decrease as the tire carcass width increases.

Influence of tire tread pattern wear on characteristics of its longitudinal adhesion with bearing surface

The aim of the research was to carry out the experimental study of the influence of tire tread pattern wear on characteristics of the longitudinal adhesion with the bearing surface in order to detect functional relationships of the adhesion coefficient against the value of tread pattern wear and the value of normal load. The experiments were carried out according to the original methodology on the laboratory tester of a modular type that allows studying the processes occurring in the elastic tire area contacting with the flat, one cylindrical, two cylindrical bearing surfaces. The experimental research allowed obtaining the 35.3% decrease of the longitudinal coefficient of elastic tire adhesion while increasing the value of tread pattern wear from 10% to 90%. The study of brakeage of the wheel with elastic tire on one bearing roller showed the 18% decline of the adhesion longitudinal coefficient with the tread pattern wear varying from 10% to 90%. During the wheel braking on two bearing rollers and the tread pattern wear increased from 10% to 70% the longitudinal coefficient of adhesion fell by 23.8% on the front bearing roller and by 48.4% on the rear roller. The result of the given research is detected functional relationships of adhesion longitudinal coefficient against the values of tread pattern wear and normal load for three types of the bearing surfaces.

Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Tractive Performance of Off-Road Tires on Gravel Terrain

In this work, an indoor soil-bin is designed to investigate the tire–terrain interaction mechanisms for the off-road tires rolling on the gravel terrain. The soil-bin test is carried out by the indoor soil-bin experimental device and the three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) and discrete element (DE) coupling method under the same particles conditions, respectively. First, with the indoor soil-bin measurement system, the repeatability of the soil-bin experiments is employed to validate the experimental device and the numerical models. Moreover, the tractive performance experiments of the off-road tires with two tread patterns, smooth and grooved interacting with gravel terrain, are performed at the slip of 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively, to obtain the tractive force and the rim sinkage. Second, the corresponding numerical models are also established, and simulated by the FE–DE coupling method, where the FEM and the DEM are used to describe the off-road tires and the gravel terrain, respectively. The tractive mechanisms of the off-road tires in interaction with the gravel terrain such as the tractive force and the rim sinkage are investigated numerically. Meanwhile, The dynamics and discontinuity of the gravel assembly are described by the presented approach. Besides, both the results of the simulations and experiments indicate that tread patterns and slip conditions have great influence on the tire tractive performance. Finally, the numerical simulations and the experimental results qualitatively show good agreements, which certifies the effectiveness of the FE–DE coupling method in the tractive performance analysis of tire–gravel terrain interactions.

Effects of Wheel Configuration on the Flow Field and the Drag Coefficient of a Passenger Vehicle

The effects of wheel rotation, rim coverage area, fan spokes, spoke sharpness, and tread pattern on the flow field and drag coefficient of a passenger vehicle were investigated. Force measurements and wake surveys were taken on a 1/5th scale passenger vehicle at a Reynolds number of 2.0 × 106. The wake surveys were conducted at three planes. Vorticity, total pressure coefficient, and local drag coefficient plots are presented. Wheel rotation reduced the drag coefficient of all of the wheel configurations tested, which generally agrees with literature. Wheel rotation reduced the front wheel’s jetting vortex’s drag while increasing the drag from the center of the front wheel to the upper rim track. Reducing the rim coverage area increased the drag coefficient. This increase was attributed to an increased jetting vortex drag and a change in flow separation around the front wheel. The fan spoke rim performed the worst, regardless of rotation. Rounding the spoke edges reduced the drag coefficient of a rotating wheel. The tread pattern slightly reduced the shoulder vortex vorticity and slightly increased the separation around the front wheel.

Friction control of a resin foam/rubber laminated block material

Abstract In this study, we investigate the frictional behavior of an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) foam/styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) laminated block using a dead-weight-type tribometer to identify the design guidelines for shoe tread patterns to provide variable friction control. The friction coefficient was highest when the ratio of the EVA foam thickness with respect to the total block thickness was high (i.e., 0.2–0.8) because of the increased contact area. Further, the friction coefficient of the laminated block specimen increased with the normalized parameter, which is the ratio of shear deformation and bending deformation in the bulk material. These results indicate that increasing the shear deformation component prevents the detachment of the specimen's trailing edge and maintains the contact area at the specimen–floor interface, resulting in increased friction coefficients. Our observations are expected to contribute to a detailed understanding of how to control the friction of the resin-foam/rubber-laminated block materials.

A dynamic tire model based on HPSO-SVM

In order to accurately describe the force mechanism of tires on agricultural roads and improve the life cycle of agricultural tires, a tire-deformable terrain model was established. The effects of tread pattern, wheel spine, tire sidewall elasticity, inflation pressure and soil deformation were considered in the model and fitted with a support vector machine (SVM) model. Hybrid particle swarm optimization (HPSO) was used to optimize the parameters of SVM prediction model, of which inertia weight and learning factor were improved. To verify the performance of the model, a tire force prediction model of agricultural vehicle with the improved SVM method was investigated, which was a complex nonlinear problem affected by many factors. Cross validation (CV) method was used to evaluate the training precision accuracy of the model, and then the improved HPSO was adopted to select parameters. Results showed that the choice randomness of specifying the parameters was avoided and the workload of the parameter selection was reduced. Compared with the dynamic tire model without considering the influence of tread pattern and wheel spine, the improved SVM model achieved a better prediction performance. The empirical results indicate that the HPSO based parameters optimization in SVM is feasible, which provides a practical guidance to tire force prediction of agricultural transport vehicles. Keywords: agricultural vehicle, tire force prediction model, support vector machine, hybrid particle swarm optimization DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20191202.3227 Citation: Chen Y X, Chen L, Huang C, Lu Y, Wang C. A dynamic tire model based on HPSO-SVM. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(2): 36–41.

Evaluation of a Tyre Tread Pattern Stiffness Using FEA

This paper deals with an FEM simulation of a multi-purpose tyre. It is focused on the tyre tread pattern lateral stiffness under static conditions. Its behaviour under given radial and lateral loads and its stiffening using connecting bridges are simulated. A tyre is a complex composite composed of different rubber materials and textile or steel reinforcements. Rubber materials are described using hyperelastic models in the analyses. FEM software MSC Marc/Mentat is employed as a calculation tool and its various functionalities are utilized for a description of the tyre models. In the last step, calculated stiffnesses of all the tread patterns were evaluated and compared to each other.

Tire Splash and Spray Directly before and during Hydroplaning

ABSTRACT Wet roads can have a serious impact on tire traction. There are several ways of detecting wet roads; however, almost all of them come with disadvantages. Using the splash and spray behavior of the tire can offer a solution. To identify key parameters that influence splash and spray, we used high-speed cameras to record tires rolling on an internal drum tire test bench. The key parameters were water film thickness, speed, and profile geometry (tread pattern and tread depth). Our image-processing analysis showed three main effects in the splash and spray behavior that help to characterize the water film thickness: side splash, circumferential spray, and torrent spray. Circumferential spray and torrent spray can be used to estimate low and medium water film thicknesses, but these require information about speed and profile geometry. Side splash announces hydroplaning without the need for additional information.

Cross-Domain Image Matching with Deep Feature Maps

We investigate the problem of automatically determining what type of shoe left an impression found at a crime scene. This recognition problem is made difficult by the variability in types of crime scene evidence (ranging from traces of dust or oil on hard surfaces to impressions made in soil) and the lack of comprehensive databases of shoe outsole tread patterns. We find that mid-level features extracted by pre-trained convolutional neural nets are surprisingly effective descriptors for this specialized domains. However, the choice of similarity measure for matching exemplars to a query image is essential to good performance. For matching multi-channel deep features, we propose the use of multi-channel normalized cross-correlation and analyze its effectiveness. Our proposed metric significantly improves performance in matching crime scene shoeprints to laboratory test impressions. We also show its effectiveness in other cross-domain image retrieval problems: matching facade images to segmentation labels and aerial photos to map images. Finally, we introduce a discriminatively trained variant and fine-tune our system through our proposed metric, obtaining state-of-the-art performance.

On the Prediction of Pantographing that Occurs between Reinforcement Cords Embedded within Uncured Rubber Layers during Molding of Tires

Abstract Molding is a key stage in the manufacturing process of a rubber tire. An unvulcanized tire consists of several layers of rubber compounds, some of which are reinforced with sets of fabric cords or wire cords. The final shape of the tire, including the tread patterns and markings, is obtained after insertion of the tire into a curing mold and inflation with an appropriate pressure. The relative orientation of reinforcements may change during the inflation phase. This relative orientation change is referred to as pantographing, and it will affect the properties of the finished tire. Predicting possible changes of orientation of reinforcements during inflation is therefore useful for subsequent technological assessment.

Influencing Parameters on Tire–Pavement Interaction Noise: Review, Experiments, and Design Considerations

Tire–pavement interaction noise (TPIN) is dominant for passenger vehicles above 40 km/h and 70 km/h for trucks. In order to reduce TPIN, numerous investigations have been conducted to reveal the influencing parameters. In this work, the influencing parameters on TPIN were reviewed and divided into five categories: driver influence parameters, tire related parameters, tread pattern parameters, pavement related parameters, and environmental parameters. The experimental setup on analyzing and insights into optimizing those parameters are given. At the end, summary tables are presented to compare all the parameters discussed, including the pertinent frequency, potential noise influence, physical mechanism, etc. As such, this review article can also serve as a reference tool for new researchers on this topic. This work covers references from 1950s till present, aiming to distribute key knowledge in both classic and recent studies.