Understanding Test Modalities of Tire Grip and Laboratory-Road Correlations with Modeling

The present study is meant to obtain tribological insight into the interface of a rolling rubber wheel on a counter-surface disk based on the work of the previous study Salehi et al. (Tribol Lett 68(1):37, 2020), in which a new test method was developed to rapidly predict tire grip in a laboratory environment. A Laboratory Abrasion Tester (LAT100) was used and exploited as a tribometer. This opened a new cost- and time-effective horizon for tire material development in a laboratory environment rather than having to test tread compounds by building full-scale tires. The method was validated by a comprehensive study for six different tire tread compositions, by correlating the laboratory data for solid rubber wheels as LAT100 specimens with real tire results in two test modalities: lateral (α) and longitudinal (κ) sweep tests on a dry road. It was demonstrated that the LAT100 can be exploited to simulate the $$\alpha$$ α -sweep tire tests, but not the $$\kappa$$ κ -sweep. The dynamics and physics of a rolling rubber wheel on a counter-surface disk of the LAT100 test step-up are investigated utilizing the renowned physical “brush model” in comparison to full-scale tire tests. The type of test modality leads to different friction mechanisms in the contact patch even at similar test conditions. This is substantiated by recognizing the two regions: stationary and non-stationary, in the contact area which results in different friction components and mechanisms. The behavior of the rolling wheel in lateral and longitudinal movements at the same test conditions is comparable if the contributions of the mentioned regions in the contact area are similar.