Prediction of Hydroplaning Risk of Truck on Roadways

2018Final Report, 10/01/2016 \u2013 12/31/2017PDFTech ReportCAIT-UTC-NC46DTRT13-G-UTC28Crash risk forecastingFinite element methodFluid dynamicsHydroplaningSimulationTiresTraffic speedTrucking safetyTruckstruck tirefluid-structure interactionwater filmslidingload and pressureUnited StatesRutgers University. Center for Advanced Infrastructure and TransportationWang, HaoDing, Y.Rutgers University. Center for Advanced Infrastructure and TransportationUnited States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and TechnologyUS Transportation CollectionThe risk of hydroplaning is one of major safety concerns at rainy weather condition for both travel public and highway agencies. Most previous studies have focused on analysis of hydroplaning for passenger car tires while giving limited importance to truck tires. This study aimed to investigate hydroplaning risk of truck tires and compare hydroplaning speeds of different tire configurations using three-dimensional (3D) fluid-structure interaction models. The validation of hydroplaning simulation model was performed against the field test results from existing literature. The results show that the wide-base 445 tire provides better safety performance than the conventional wide-base 425 tire and dual tire assembly with 11R22.5 tire under wet weather condition. The hydroplaning potential increases with the increase of water film thickness on pavement surface. On the other hand, the high wheel load or high tire inflation pressure positively increases hydroplaning speed. In addition, the analysis results demonstrate that the truck tire under sliding condition has the higher hydroplaning risks than the tire under free rolling condition. These factors should be considered together when developing safety improvement countermeasures for driving safety.93