A Novel Technique to Measure the Rolling Resistance of Tyres

When a vertically-loaded tyre rolls on road, significant amount of energy is lost to overcome the "Rolling Resistance" of tyres - a force which is produced due to deformation of tyres. So, a complete set-up which includes the tyre revolving on the rotating drum has been fabricated in which the vertical load on tyre is applied by heavy plates. A new and cost- effective method to find this force using single force transducer has been developed. A comprehensive set of experimental data for two different bias-ply tyres - with and without treads has been measured and discussed. The measurements indicate that the value of the rolling resistance co- efficient is more for the tyre with treads. Further, variation of rolling resistance co-efficient with inflation pressure, load and speed has been presented.