From global warming concern a tyre rolling resistance is one of the key performance issues in the tyre industry. The contribution of tyre rolling resistance to total vehicle fuel consumption increases with improving the fuel efficiency of vehicle powertrain system. The study described in this paper gives the finite element analysis to predict with greater certainty the effect of both tyre designs and tyre materials on tyre rolling resistance. Tyre rolling resistance was computed by 3D-FEA using non-linear viscoelastic equations (N.V.E.) which can describe the wide range of strain dependence for viscoelastic properties. These equations were derived from the idea based upon the Davies-De-Thomas (DDT) equation (Davies et al. 1995; Busfield 1993) and Kraus theory (Kraus 1965). This method has been applied to two sizes of tyres, 195/70R14 and 225/60R16 with variations of tyre design and compound properties. The results have been correlated to the values of tyre rolling resistance measured on the tyre test bench. Good agreement was obtained between FEA and measured results.
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