Tire thermal characterization: Test procedure and model parameters evaluation

The TRT model, developed to accurately reproduce the tire thermal dynamics in all the vehicle working conditions, has to be physically characterized [1][2]. An appropriate non-destructive procedure, that allows to obtain the thermal diffusivity of completely different tire layers, is described. The heat is directly supplied on the tire tread surface trough a specifically powered laser, while two thermal cameras acquire temperatures reached on both the outer and the inner layers. Using the above instrumentation layout to acquire the tire radial and circumferential temperature gradients and a specifically developed mathematical TRTLab model based on the use of Fourier's equation of diffusion applied to a three dimensional domain, allows to estimate the tire thermal diffusivity