Enhancement of Tire Durability by Considering Air Flow Field

Rolling tire performance is frequently affected by multiple physics. For instance, dry handling is influenced by the tire temperature as a consequence of the heat generation by material viscosity and the heat transfer to ambient air. The general phenomenon is complex and even interactive in that the elasticity parameter affecting tire deformation is a function of the temperature and that the temperature depends considerably on the air flow on tire surface. This paper refers to connecting the different physics of outside air flow and thermomechanical system of tire. Especially, the heat transfer across tire surface is focused from the viewpoint of thermofluid dynamics. Macroscopic flow turbulence to accelerate the heat transfer is studied in a case study of the run-flat tire, where high temperature due to very large deformation is of a key issue. Numerical simulation is conducted in parallel to experimental works in assessing heat flow and temperature on the surface. It is shown that the proposed geometry of rib sidewall reduces the tire temperature and improves the tire life remarkably.