ABSTRACT
Rolling resistance plays an important role in vehicle fuel consumption. Pavement surface texture and roughness are two of the pavement elements that affect the energy dissipation in the vehicle. The effect of roughness on rolling resistance has been the focus of several studies in the past, while a few studies investigated the effect of macro-texture. However, most of these studies either considered the mega-texture as a part of the roughness profile or did not include it in the texture spectrum at all. In this study, the effect of pavement surface mega-texture on rolling resistance was investigated mechanistically.
For this purpose, a finite element-based quarter-car model is developed. The model includes a full-3D finite element tire model combined with a suspension system. The effects of several profiles with different mega-texture levels on rolling resistance of the quarter-car and tire are evaluated and compared with the effect of roughness and macro-texture.
