Experimental study on tire rolling resistance under complex conditions with temperature, wear, camber, and sideslip angle impacts

Tire rolling resistance is a critical factor influencing vehicle fuel economy and the driving range of electric vehicles. Multiple independent influencing factors affect tire rolling resistance, making it difficult to analytically predict rolling resistance variations under various operating conditions. Therefore, laboratory measurement remains the primary approach for evaluating tire rolling resistance. Based on indoor drum experiments for tire rolling resistance measurement, this study extensively investigates the quantitative effects of tire temperature, tire wear, camber angle, and sideslip angle on rolling resistance through a series of experiments. The results demonstrate that: (1) Both load and velocity impose evident influences on tire temperature and rolling resistance, and the two parameters exhibit consistent variation tendencies. An empirical logarithmic model is further proposed to fit the time-dependent changes of temperature and rolling resistance based only on data from the present indoor drum tests. (2) Tire wear significantly influences rolling resistance. For several tire specimens of different brands tested in this work, rolling resistance shows a decreasing nonlinear trend at a controlled uniform 2 mm tread wear depth on the indoor drum rig, which follows a non-linear relation, with a maximum reduction of 16.1%. For the same tire, the rolling resistance decreases by 13.59% after an initial wear of 3 mm, and a further wear of 3 mm results in an additional reduction of 7.65%. (3) A novel empirical fitting model is established to describe how camber and sideslip angles affect rolling resistance for the tested tire. This model describes a quadratic dependence of the rolling resistance coefficient on both angles, which was verified through experiments. As these angles increase further, the rolling resistance demonstrates more obvious nonlinear characteristics. This study quantifies single-factor tire rolling resistance trends via drum tests to support indoor bench research.