Effect of an elastic surface on accumulation of snow and ice on vehicles

Abstract The ice on vehicles has increased the requirements of vehicular mobility, safety, and comfort, which attracts people's attention increasingly. Through analyzing the characteristics of snow and ice accumulation on vehicle mudguard, we found that the snow and ice gradually encircled the wheel, the front and rear mudguards, and the posterior side of the fender inner panel with the vehicle traveling, and its thickness decreased from bottom to top. Moreover, the splash and the initial shape of ice and snow were different on the front and rear wheels. Surprisingly, we found that the increase in wheel speed delayed the accumulation of snow and ice in general. Specifically, the rate of accumulation gradually decreased on the middle of mudguards and fender inner panels but increased the on their sides. Besides, because of elastic coatings reducing the freezing adhesive strength of a material, to reduce the negative effects of snow and ice accumulation, we proposed an anti-icing elastic surface on mudguards. The results of laboratory and field test show that the icing was delayed and more gradual after the mudguard had been completely coated with the elastic coating. This suggests that changing the surface elasticity of the mudguard could be used on anti-icing for vehicle chassis.