Abstract

The effect of tire load, speed, and cold inflation pressure on the rolling loss contribution of any tire region is determined by numerical calculations involving both laboratory measurements and thermal modeling techniques. Laboratory measurements include tire surface temperature distributions obtained from an infrared camera system; thermal modeling is based on finite‐difference procedures.

Results are presented in two formats: (1) plots of rolling loss distributions from bead to bead and (2) contributions of tread, shoulder, sidewall, and bead regions. The first format is a direct result of the thermal model; the second is derived from multiple‐regression operations. Both formats are given as functions of load, cold inflation pressure, and speed. Beahvior in the tread region is shown to be unique.