滚动摩擦是阻碍物体（例如球，轮胎等）在另一物体表面滚动的力。在物体滚动过程中，滚动体及其所在的滚动面或其他物体的接触面受压变形。滚动摩擦主要是因为塑性变形所引起： 当压力撤去后，有一部分能量消耗。

滚动摩擦阻力是正向力和摩擦因数cR的乘积,其关系为

FR = cR*FN

FR： 滚动摩擦阻力

cR： 滚动因数

FN： 物体接触表面垂直正向力

滚动因数跟物体表面材料，形状及物理上施加重量有关。滚动因数也跟轮胎运动表面压变形多少有关。例如相同重量的钢轮火车在铁轨上行驶，要比橡皮轮胎的汽车在马路上行驶的远。

Rolling resistance, sometimes called rolling friction or rolling drag, is the force resisting the motion when a body (such as a ball, tire, or wheel) rolls on a surface. It is mainly caused by non-elastic effects; that is, not all the energy needed for deformation (or movement) of the wheel, roadbed, etc. is recovered when the pressure is removed. Two forms of this are hysteresis losses (see below), and permanent (plastic) deformation of the object or the surface (e.g. soil). Another cause of rolling resistance lies in the slippage between the wheel and the surface, which dissipates energy. Note that only the last of these effects involves friction, therefore the name "rolling friction" is to an extent a misnomer.