Experimental identification of dynamic tire friction potential on ice surfaces

Abstract

Recently, it has been shown that the tire–ice friction is characterized by a significant dynamic potential for abrupt increases of wheel torque. With the aim to gain insight into the dynamic tire friction potential features and to provide a comprehensive set of experimental data for model validation, a detailed experimental investigation of the dynamic potential has been presented in this article. The experimental data have been collected by using an experimental electrical vehicle with an in-wheel motor. Influence of the following operating parameters has been analyzed: rate of change of applied wheel torque, time for which the tire stands still on ice before applying the abrupt transient, initial vehicle speed, and initial tire force. In order to check a possible correlation between the dynamic potential and the rubber–ice friction dynamics, an experimental analysis based on a pin-on-disc tribometer has also been presented.

Keywords:

• Tire
• Ice
• Friction
• Dynamic behaviour
• Experimental data
• In-wheel motor
• Tribometer

Acknowledgements

It is gratefully acknowledged that the development of the experimental vehicle with in-wheel motor, as well as the related experimental investigation have been supported by Ford Motor Company.