Effects of Pavement Surface Texture and Interfacial Friction on Tire Rolling Resistance: A Finite Element Study

To investigate the effects of pavement textures and tire-pavement interfacial friction on tire rolling resistance, a three-dimensional tire-pavement rolling finite element model was developed considering flat, arc-shaped, triangular, and rectangular textures under different friction coefficient conditions (μ = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8). The effects of textures and μ on tire-pavement contact responses, energy dissipation, and rolling resistance were analyzed, and the rolling resistance coefficient (C_rr) was calculated based on energy dissipation theory. Furthermore, scaled rolling resistance tests were conducted under different pavement surface materials to validate the trends obtained from finite element simulations. The results show that pavement textures significantly affect tire-pavement contact responses under rigid pavement conditions. Compared with the flat texture, the triangular texture increases the contact length and peak contact pressure by approximately 18.9% and 458.1%, respectively, indicating enhanced contact pressure concentration. Compared with rigid pavement, flexible pavement structural deformation further influences tire-pavement contact responses and extends the deformation region. The arc-shaped texture exhibits more pronounced deformation responses and higher energy dissipation. As μ increases from 0.2 to 0.8, both tire deformation energy dissipation and tire-pavement interfacial frictional dissipation increase, resulting in higher C_rr. C_rr increases by approximately 14.5-30.8% and 10.4-16.2% for rigid and flexible pavements, respectively. Scaled test results show that the trends in rolling resistance coefficients for different pavement materials are consistent with surface friction levels, and additional loading further increases rolling resistance. The results demonstrate that pavement textures and tire-pavement interfacial friction both influence rolling resistance through their effects on contact behavior and energy dissipation, providing a theoretical basis for low-rolling-resistance pavement design.