A multi-asperity tyre/road contact model for rolling noise prediction

This paper deals with the numerical study of tyre/road contact within the framework of rolling noise prediction. A macro-scale approach based on inter-summit contact description between road asperities is used for solving the contact problem between a real road surface and an elastic half-space representing the tyre tread. For efficient applications to road surfaces, an appropriate partition of the surface has been used in addition with an analytical load/penetration relation for a single road asperity. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the method, numerical contact forces for a small sample of road are compared to those obtained with a classical matrix inversion method. It is concluded that the model is accurate enough to predict tyre/road contact forces for rolling noise estimation. Then numerical evaluation of dynamical contact forces for a smooth tyre rolling on a road surface over several meters is presented, allowing the calculation of force spectra