Tread Pitch Arrangement Optimization Through the Use of a Genetic Algorithm

Urban communities throughout the United States and Europe are expressing a growing concern over the external noise emitted by automobiles and trucks. A major contribution to this noise can be tread whine generated by tires. This paper discusses how the tread pitch arrangement and its contribution to reducing tread whine can be optimized during the design phase. While there are numerous patented approaches to selecting pitch sizes and a pitch arrangement, traditional optimization algorithms are difficult to apply. This paper will show that a genetic algorithm is easily applied and very effective for pitch sequence optimization.