Development of a three-dimensional road texture measurement method as a first step towards tyre road contact simulation

When analysing tyre vibration excitation and the energy transmission of tyre vibration into vehicle passenger compartments, a three-dimensional road texture profile of the surface course is of special interest. Tyre analyses are performed inside an inner drum test-bench at the Institute of Vehicle System Technology. This paper describes the development of a three-dimensional road texture measurement method in the test-bench. Measured data was converted to the distance domain and interpolated to fit a regular grid, resulting in a resolution of lower than 0.1 mm in the driving direction. Power spectra, Abbott–Firestone curve and the shape factor were determined for the measured road tracks. Analysis of the measured road texture profiles of two concrete road tracks showed that the spectral density of the almost unused drum tracks without potholes has to be approximated by two linear functions, depending on the wavelength ranges. Both textures turned out to have a convex shape but differing maximum texture depth. Convex-shaped textures are usually expected to result in stronger vibration excitations. In order to demonstrate the surface courses’ capacity for tyre vibration excitation, a passenger car tyre was driven on each track. It could be shown that both textures are appropriate for the analysis of tyre vibration characteristics.