Title: Investigation of ice surface change during vehicle testing

Authors: Johan Casselgren; Niclas Engström; Sara Rosendahl; Lennart Fransson

Addresses: Division of Fluid and Experimental Mechanics, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden ' Division of Machine Elements, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden ' Division of Fluid and Experimental Mechanics, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden ' Division of Structural and Construction Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden

Abstract: Today, there are a lot of vehicles and tyre testing carried out on lake ice surfaces. Thus, it is important to have knowledge about parameters that affect roadgrip. The thesis within this paper is that the liquid like layer which appears due to increasing temperature can be reduced by manipulating the ice roughness. This in turn should decrease the temperature dependence of the roadgrip in temperatures around 0°C. In order to investigate this, measurements of temperature, surface roughness and hardness and roadgrip were performed on three outdoor ice surfaces using an IR thermometer, an optical sensor with three IR-diodes, a steel ball drop indentation test and an RT3 curve, respectively. Additional ice roughness measurements were also made on two tempered ice surfaces in an ice hall. Results show a clear connection between ice temperature and roadgrip, unfortunately the created ice roughness was too small to influence the change in roadgrip.

Keywords: friction; road grip; RT3 curve; Road eye; lake ice surfaces; ice surface changes; vehicle testing; ice roughness; temperature; surface roughness; surface hardness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2014.061435

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2014 Vol.9 No.2, pp.137 - 150

Received: 27 Feb 2013
Accepted: 06 Oct 2013

Published online: 30 Jun 2014 *

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