Study on the microscopic friction between tire and asphalt pavement based on molecular dynamics simulation

Good pavement friction performance between tire and asphalt pavement is the prerequisite to ensure traffic safety and driving comfortability. In this paper, the microscopic friction between tire and asphalt pavement is studied using the Material Studio and LAMMPS software. A 3D contact model of tire, asphalt layer and the substrate layer is established. The Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation is conducted to simulate the friction behavior under different environments. The influence of different environmental conditions including vehicle speed (20-120 km/h) and pavement surface temperature (−30 to 35 °C) on the pavement surface friction coefficient is also studied. Simulation results show that vehicle speed and pavement surface temperature have significant effects on the friction coefficient at microscale.