Thermo-mechanically coupled investigation of steady state rolling tires by numerical simulation and experiment

•A steady state rolling viscoelastic tire is thermo-mechanically analyzed.•Loss energy and temperature rise from friction in the contact patch are included.•Loss energy is computed on a physical basis from the viscoelastic tire model.•An appropriate model parameter identification strategy is shown in detail.

In this contribution, a numerical framework for the efficient thermo-mechanical analysis of fully 3D tire structures (axisymmetric geometry) in steady state motion is presented. The modular simulation approach consists of a sequentially coupled mechanical and thermal simulation module. In the mechanical module, the Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) framework is used together with a 3D finite element model of the tire structure to represent its temperature-dependent viscoelastic behavior at steady state rolling and finite deformations. Physically computed heat source terms (energy dissipation from the material and friction in the tire–road contact zone) are used as input quantities for the thermal module. In the thermal module, a representative cross-sectional part of the tire is employed to evaluate the temperature evolution due to internal and external heat sources in a transient thermal simulation. Special emphasis is given to an adequate material test program to identify the model parameters. The parameter identification is discussed in detail. Numerical results for three different types of special performance tires at free rolling conditions are compared to experimental measurements from the test rig, focusing especially on rolling resistance and surface temperature distribution.