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  The TYROSAFE Project is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) in the Seventh EU Framework Programme and aims at coordinating and preparing for European harmonisation and optimisation of the assessment and management of essential tyre/road interaction parameters to increase safety and support the greening of European road transport. The project has focussed on three road surface “properties” as they are referred to in this and earlier TYROSAFE reports: skid resistance, rolling resistance and noise emission. The project has sought to find a way towards a consistent approach to policies governing these properties in Europe supported by harmonised measurement techniques, especially for skid resistance, together with surface and tyre characteristics optimised in relation to the three properties. The project is being carried out in a number of Work Packages and the objective of WP3, to which this report relates, was to describe the different parameters of road surfaces and tyres that are relevant to skid resistance, rolling resistance and noise emission (covered in Deliverable D10), leading to a matrix that clarifies the interdependencies of the different factors (dealt with in Deliverable D14) that it will be important to understand if optimisation is to be achieved. From this analysis, the important knowledge gaps have been identified, providing a basis for suggesting areas for further research. It is the latter two components – knowledge gaps and research ideas – that are the subject of this report, which is the final written report from WP3. At the outset of the TYROSAFE project, it was clear that road surfacings and tyres are currently developed independently of one another. In relation to the three properties on which the project concentrates, this becomes especially obvious: roads are currently developed without real thought to tyres and tyres are tested without reference to road surfacings in every-day use. The three surface properties are governed by a number of individual factors that relate to the construction or manufacture of road surfaces and tyres, or their component parts, which potentially act or interact to influence them. Some of the interdependencies are well known but others are not and it is these unknown interactions that lead to the knowledge gaps that will require research to resolve. Analysing many years of research and the interaction matrices in D14, it becomes apparent that “texture” – both that of the road surface and that of tyres (in the form of the tread pattern), and the way that they combine in the contact patch – is the most important broad factor which needs to be understood for optimising tyres and road surfaces. This factor, on all its scales, influences the interaction between tyre and road to develop friction; it is plays a significant role in noise generation or attenuation and, potentially in tyre rolling resistance. There are also other aspects of road surfaces and tyres, such as the impacts that construction techniques might have on the surface properties that show gaps in current knowledge. In many areas, the knowledge gaps are associated with inadequate or inconsistent measurement techniques. For example, our understanding of texture and its influence is limited by what can currently be measured and the ability to measure characteristics, for example, in three dimensions rather than two, would enable different or new parameters to be defined that would better predict or explain behaviour. The problem of measurement limitations restricting understanding also applies to surface construction characteristics such as interconnected voids (which may influence noise, water dispersal in the skid resistance context and the durability of performance). Lack of well-defined measurement techniques is also a serious limitation of understanding the rolling resistance of tyres, especially on real road surfaces. Similarly, differences in ways of assessing passenger-car and truck tyres and their performance are not always well understood. Also, if measurements are available and parameters can be defined that could potentially improve the optimisation of road surfaces and tyres together, effective ways to achieving this in everyday practice need to be found. In developing research ideas, a high-level strategic view has been taken that initially considered the outcomes that are needed for the stakeholders (road administrations, manufacturers and users), recognising that standards and specifications will be required to facilitate delivery of these outcomes on the road network. It is to provide the information that allows such standards to be set and monitored, to enable specifications to be practical and achievable, that input in the form of research is required. The ability to provide simulation tools that will predict behaviours of different tyres on road surfaces with different characteristics is an important part of this process. The report proposes a number of broad research ideas (rather than detailed project definitions) directed at providing appropriate input in relation to the major knowledge gaps that have been identified. For convenience, these have been divided into two three groups: those related primarily to road surfacings, those related primarily to tyres and those related to their interaction. The report identifies thirteen main research areas and suggests a timetable and some approximate costs for carrying out the work. The timeline recognises that the work needs to be phased, moving progressively from the laboratory to pilot scale tests and ultimately to validation at the network level. Some areas of work will depend on the outputs of others and this influences their phasing. Overall, it is envisaged that a full programme of work would take around 20 years to complete, with much of the time being required to allow adequate time to pass to assess the influence of aging and wear on optimised surfaces and tyres in normal everyday use.
   
content link: http://tyrosafe.fehrl.org/index.php?m=49&mode=download&id_file=9933
   
content language: English
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project type
EC FP7 
area of interest
 SAFETY & SECURITY
user type
research labs 
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created: Marco Conter, 14.07.2010 16:25:10
last modified: Marco Conter, 14.07.2010 16:56:27