A contact model for predicting adherence force and noise generation in the tyre / road contact

Adhesion forces influence the automotive tyre / road surface contact for certain tyre / road combinations, leading to enhanced rolling resistance, tyre vibrations, and noise excitation. A model was developed to predict the contact force and noise generation for hastily separation of two macroscopic objects. The model is formulated in the time domain for two elastic bodies in non-linear dynamic contact. The contact area is spatially discretised in contact points and the dynamic response is calculated convolving the contact forces with pre-calculated impulse responses of the interacting objects. The adhesion forces are included allowing negative forces through the contacts, which break at a given condition; at a critical force in its simplest form. Parameters on a micro-scale influencing this condition are discussed. Time records of contact forces and sound pressures as samples of tyre tread are hastily separated from road surfaces samples were acquired. A qualitative comparison between calculated and measured data demonstrates the feasibility of the model.