Beam model for tyre tread block dynamics

The tyre provides the only connection between vehicle and road. Therefore, tyre performance is essential for the passengers’ safety and comfort. Especially in winter the tyre can improve the vehicle handling and safety. For that reason, the winter tyre development gains more and more attention. Due to the special environmental demands for winter tyre tests the development process for winter tyres takes several years. For reducing the development costs and time the relevant friction influencing factors must be understood. Therefore, we studied the contact behaviour of single tread blocks experimentally and by simulation. In this publication the authors set up a siped tyre tread block model which can be used for studying the interaction between tread block and road surface. The model is based on Timoshenko’s beam theory and can display several different effects like stick-slip vibrations or contact between tread block elements.