Contact Stress and Rolling Loss Estimation via Thermomechanical Interaction Modeling of a Truck Tire on a Pavement Layer

Combined influence of temperature and mechanical deformations define the resulting contact stresses, heat flow, and rolling loss at the tire–pavement contact. In this study, the thermomechanical coupling of a hyperviscoelastic tire with a deformable pavement layer revealed the impact and extent of temperature influence on the hysteretic loss of a rolling tire. A scheme to predict the three-dimensional contact stress distribution was established that incorporated the thermomechanical interaction between a rolling hyperviscoelastic truck tire and a deformable pavement layer. The fully coupled thermal-stress model addressed two distinct yet intertwined perspectives: (1) establishing a thermomechanical database and prediction tool to generate contact stresses as inputs for pavement structural design, and (2) quantifying the associated rolling loss at the tire–pavement interaction that relates to tire design configurations and environmental impacts. Differences in the resulting contact stresses and rolling energy loss were observed between imposing uniform and nonuniform temperature profiles. Both the range and magnitudes of stresses throughout the tire–pavement contact imprint changed drastically as varying temperature profiles were implemented. Ranking the influence of thermal boundary conditions, the ambient temperature induced the highest impact on the dissipation energy and change in contact stress distribution, followed by the road and inner tire surface conditions. Moreover, the global hysteretic loss within the tire as myriad temperature profiles were imposed did not change significantly; however, the creep dissipation observed within the contact imprint revealed a higher disparity.