Abstract
The increasing emphasis on improving fuel economy has created a need for a good analytical model for predicting tire power loss. Some of the existing tire power loss models are first reviewed and deficiencies noted, principal among these being the constitutive theory used to characterize tire materials, the model for the tire‐pavement interaction, the model to account for the changing thermal state of the tire, and the model representing the interaction between the thermal and the mechanical states of the tire. The characteristics of an ideal power loss model are then outlined, its conceptual basis is presented, and the specific tasks needed to develop it and eliminate the previously listed deficiencies are discussed. Required experimental inputs to the model are enumerated. Finally, preliminary results are presented which demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.