Modelling of roller conveyor for the simulation of rubber tire tread extrusion

Abstract The extrusion of large or heavy technical rubber profiles is usually assisted by a conveying device. Such a device can be a conveyor belt or a series of rollers, and its use is necessary mainly for being able to achieve the process. Within the context of numerical simulation of extrusion flows, a conveying device brings additional downstream constraints to the flow governing equations. In the present paper, we propose a simple engineering approach for modelling a roller conveyor used in rubber tire tread extrusion, and we apply it to the extrusion simulation of a flat tire tread profile as typically encountered in the tire manufacturing industry.