Boundary Conditions on Models For Predicting Tyre to Road Traction

The resultant forces and moments of traction developed in the contact of tyre and road are of crucial importance in vehicle dynamics. During the past few decades considerable progress has been made in understanding tyre/road traction but the realization of a realistic quantitative model to predict traction still remains a dream! The behaviour of the tyre-road traction system depends on the complex interaction of properties of its three sub-systems: the tyre, the road and the interface (contaminants). Theoretical analysis of traction involves formulation and solution of difficult problems in the disciplines of kinematics, elasticity and tribology (friction and lubrication). For systems of such great physical and mathematical complexity the only reasonable path towards progress is that of intense feedback between theory and practice of traction. Experimental work on tyre traction is extremely useful for indicating the right direction of development of theoretical models, while the theory in return, can guide the design of useful experiments and suggest appropriate empirical structures for representing test data in a form suitable for vehicle dynamics simulation.