Grooving of tire tread is necessary to provide sufficient skid resistancefor wet-weather driving and to reduce the risk of hydroplaning. Many different groove patterns of tire tread are found in the market. However, their relative effectiveness in reducing hydroplaning risk is generally notknown to motorists and highway engineers. The effects of changes in the groove depth of a tire tread groove pattern are also not well understood.This paper presents an analytical study that aims to characterize in a quantitative manner the influence of different tire tread patterns and groove depths on the hydroplaning behavior of passenger cars. The analysis is performed by means of a computer simulation model using a 3-dimensional finite element approach. The following six forms of tire tread groove patterns are considered: (a) longitudinal groove pattern, (b) transverse groovepattern, (c) V-groove pattern with 20-degree V-cut, (d) V-groove pattern with 40-degree V-cut, (e) combined groove pattern consisting of longitudinal grooves and edge horizontal grooves, and (f) combined groove pattern consisting of longitudinal grooves and 20o V grooves. The analysis shows that a parameter computed as the groove volume per tread area of the tire, is a useful performance indicator to assess the effectiveness of various tire tread groove patterns in reducing vehicle hydroplaning risk. The significance of V-shape grooves is discussed. For vehicular operations involving both forward and lateral movements, the analysis indicates that a combined pattern would provide a good compromise in keeping hydroplaning risk sufficiently low in different modes of vehicle movements.
Abstract