Theoretical Modeling of Tire Wear

Wear-rate prediction of rubber is of great practical importance in tire industry, though it is still not well understood theoretically. Few experimental models have been developed in the past to predict the rubber wear-rate under specific conditions, but none of them succeeded to provide a comprehensive model that can be used in various contact problems. This is due to the fact that this complex process involves several parameters including elastic response of the tire at different speeds, profile details of contact surface, tire pressure, and rubber resistance to fracture. In practice, the precise effects of these parameters on the wear-rate are not well known, because it is difficult to control each of these parameters separately and precisely during laboratory experiments.

In this study, the effects of different parameters on the wear-rate of tire based on the available theoretical models were investigated. The law of conservation of energy in contact patch was used to find the relation between the fracture energy required for propagation of surface cracks and frictional energy. The theoretical friction model and contact mechanics proposed by Persson was used to obtain the frictional energy. In addition, the fatigue crack growth in rubber-like materials to obtain the crack growth rate based on fracture energy was investigated. Finally, the friction model and fatigue crack growth model were combined to obtain a comprehensive theoretical model for simulation tire wear. To assure the correctness of the results, these results were compared with experimental results obtained from a dynamic friction tester developed for this study.