A STUDY OF METHODS FOR INDIRECTLY EVALUATING THE ROLLING RESISTANCE COEFFICIENT USING A ROAD SURFACE PROFILE

Abstract

 This paper presents the results of a study of methods for indirectly evaluating the rolling resistance coefficient from a road surface profile. In this study, a road surface profile was divided into two regions: a macrotexture region and a mega-texture roughness region (hereinafter “the roughness region”). We performed an analysis of two-dimensional texture data in the macrotexture region and a wavelet analysis of one-dimensional profile data in the roughness region. As a result, we were able to propose a multiple regression equation to estimate the rolling resistance coefficient using as an explanatory variable the RMS value obtained from a 0.5 mm surface area in the macrotexture region and the RMS value obtained from a profile in the wavelength range of 0.08 to 5.12 m in the roughness region. The correlation obtained between the tire/road rolling resistance coefficient is stronger than that obtained using MPD or IRI as an explanatory variable.