Analysis of temperature distribution in a rolling tire due to strain energy dissipation

Abstract

This paper addresses a systematic procedure using a sequential approach for the analysis of the coupled thermomechanical behavior of a steady state rolling tire. Not only knowledge of mechanical stresses but also knowledge of the temperature loading in a rolling tire are very important because material damage and material properties are affected significantly by the temperature. In general, the thermomechanical behavior of a pneumatic tire is a highly complex transient phenomenon that requires the solution of a dynamic nonlinear coupled thermoviscoelasticity problem with heat sources resulting from internal dissipation and friction. In this paper, a sequential approach, with effective calculation schemes, to modeling this system is presented to predict the temperature distribution with reasonable accuracy in a steady state rolling tire. This approach has three major analysis modules: deformation, dissipation, and thermal modules. In the dissipation module, an analytic method for the calculation of the heat source in a rolling tire is established using viscoelastic theory. For the verification of the calculated temperature profiles and rolling resistance at different velocities, they are compared with measured ones. Also, discussed are the accuracies of the linear and quadratic finite element models used in the analysis.