Abstract

The tread rubber block of tire in contact with the roadway plays an important role of holding the frictional forces between the tire and the road in driving and braking. In this paper, a theoretical study based on the energy method is presented on the contact pressure of the tread block under the compressive forces with the slip between the tread block and the contact surfaces, by using a 2‐D model of tread rubber block. Then, the slip‐starting position is obtained by the theoretical analysis together with experimental results for the compressive force and deflection, which depends on the contact surface conditions. The experimental studies are conducted to verify the predicted results. Good agreement is obtained between these theoretical and experimental results for contact pressure and slip‐starting position of the tread rubber block.