A novel evaluation on rolling resistance characteristics of truck tire through the simplified experimental modal analysis

A novel evaluation method for the rolling resistance characteristics of truck tire is proposed, in which a simplified modal experiment is suggested through a single-point vibration sampling from the tire surface with a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric film. Three truck tires are utilized in the modal experiments, and the half-power bandwidth method is employed to identify the damping characteristics of the three tires. The damping characteristics of the tires are ranked by their values. These values are compared with their corresponding rolling resistance coefficients to manifest their correlative relationship. The experimental results, which are obtained from the modal experiment and the rolling resistance test, indicate that the modal parameters and the half-power bandwidth of the tire are exactly correlated to the rolling resistance coefficients. Furthermore, the damping ratios of the tires are correlated well with the rolling resistance coefficients among the tires. Overall, the proposed evaluation method could effectively evaluate the rolling resistance characteristics of the tire, which enable it to be a simple and economical alternative over the conventional tire rolling resistance experiments.