This research examines the effect of changes in coefficient of friction due to humidity on the likelihood of wheel squeal events occurring in practice. Theoretical mechanics based modeling is developed and compared to a database of field measurements of wheel squeal occurrences at a field site in Australia. In particular, a relatively simplified model of wheel squeal is developed based on existing literature but notably incorporates probabilistic mechanics to account for field parameter variations and hence allows direct comparisons with field data. The model is then tuned to field site conditions at which over 2 million wheel passes have been monitored for a period of 3 years. The comparison indicates that field measured trends for the effect of relative humidity on coefficient of friction and hence the occurrences of wheel squeal have been able to be predicted using the very efficient model
