Analysis for effect of tire tread element of imitation reindeer plantar morphology on tire anti-skid performance

Tires are very important on the performance of automobiles. The tread structure guarantees that the vehicle and the road surface have a good grasp, so as to play the traction performance and braking effect of the vehicle. The paper based on Reverse Engineering technology, the characteristic structure of reindeer feet was applied to the design of tread element structure, which could effectively improve the passing performance of tires on ice. In order to improve the anti-skid performance of tire, based on the mathematical model of reindeer's plantar morphology, the bionic ribbed tread element and bionic non-ribbed tread element were designed by engineering bionics technology. Based on reverse engineering, the inner and outer edge curve of reindeer sole was simplified as a mathematical function of characteristic curve, and the reconstructed model of convex crown was transformed into a 3-dimensional model. 2 bionic anti-skid tread elements and herringbone tread elements were established in Solidworks software, combining with the microstructure of convex crown. The adhesion test of tread element and ice was carried out on UTM (QT-1090) linear friction tester. The thermo-mechanical coupling between tread element and ice was established by finite element analysis software ABAQUS. Moreover, the ice surface temperature of 3 tread elements under low pressure of 0.02 MPa and temperature of -11℃ was analyzed. The anti-skid performance of bionic trad elements were analyzed by ice adhesion test and Finite Element Method (FEM), compared with the same size conventional herringbone tread element. Under the condition of low pressure (pressure≤0.02 MPa), the 3 kinds of tread elements with self-made ice block was tasted through the ice adhesion test. The result showed that the Dynamic Coefficient of Friction (DCOF) of bionic non-ribbed tread element was the highest at the same velocity, temperature and pressure. It was 1.04-1.26 times herringbone tread element. Through the finite element analysis, it was found that under the low pressure (pressure=0.02 MPa), the ice surface temperature of bionic ribbed tread element, bionic non-ribbed tread element and herringbone tread element increased by 0.21, 0.66 and 0.54 ℃ relative to the initial temperature, respectively. The ice temperature of bionic non-ribbed tread element increased the highest. The results showed that the anti-slip performance of bionic non-ribbed tread element was the best under low pressure. At high pressure (pressure = 2 MPa), finite element analysis showed that the ice surface temperature under bionic ribbed tread element, bionic non-ribbed tread element and herringbone tread element increased by 7.76, 4.07 and 3.39 ℃ relative to the initial temperature, respectively. The ice temperature of bionic ribbed tread element increased the highest. The results showed that the anti-slip performance of bionic ribbed tread element was the best under high pressure. Therefore, the bionic non-ribbed tread element and the bionic ribbed tread element had good anti-skid performance under low pressure and high pressure, respectively. The tire slippage caused by ice effect was solved effectively. This paper will provide research direction and theoretical basis for anti-slip design of tread element on ice ground.