Measurement of contact area, contact pressure and compaction under tires in soft soil

This paper reports about measurements of the contact area of agricultuural tires in a soil bin. Four tires of the dimensions 12.5/80-18, 13.6–28, 16.9–34 and 16.9–26 were tested on a soft sandy loam. Because the existing models for predicting the footprint are complicated, a simplified model has been established, yielding good results. Measured different contact areas of all four tires are nearly constant related to wheel load except for a small increase at higher loads. Using rated loads and applying the appropriate inflation pressure, the ground pressure of a group of similar tires in loose sandy loam is independent of the tire dimensions. Measured soil compaction under at tire a various wheel loads is compared with results obtained by a mathematical model.     

An indoor traction measurement system for agricultural tires

To reliably study soil–wheel interactions, an indoor traction measurement system that allows creation of controlled soil conditions was developed. This system consisted of: (i) single wheel tester (SWT); (ii) mixing-and-compaction device (MCD) for soil preparation; (iii) soil bin; (iv) traction load device (TLD). The tire driving torque, drawbar pull, tire sinkage, position of tire lug, travel distance of the SWT and tire revolution angle were measured. It was observed that these measurements were highly reproducible under all experimental conditions. Also relationships of slip vs. sinkage and drawbar pull vs. slip showed high correlation. The tire driving torque was found to be directly influenced by the tire lug spacing. The effect of tire lug was also discussed in terms of tire slip.     

Measurement on Friction Coefficients of Tire Grounding Surface in Arbitrary Directions under High-Load

In order to measure friction coefficients of tire grounding surfaces in car running, a simple cantilever-type tactile sensor that can detect the vertical load and friction force applied to the sensing part as well as direction of the friction force, simultaneously, has been proposed. The present study equips the proposed sensor to a tire and confirms that the sensor can measure the friction coefficient of the tire grounding surface. For this purpose, measurements in this study were conducted using a sensor under a similar load as that of a common automobile travelling in an arbitrary direction. In order to perform the experiments under a high load in an arbitrary direction, we developed a parallel mechanism-type tire-driving device. The developed device can apply a high load to the tire in an arbitrary direction and can measure the vertical load, friction force, and the direction of the friction force applied to the tire involving the sensor. Thus, the measurement accuracy of the proposed sensor can be verified by comparing the output of the sensor to that of the driving device. As a result of this study, we clarified that the measurement values of the sensor are affected by the deformation of the tire, and proposed a method for correcting the effect of the tire deformation. By introducing the proposed correction method to the measurement of the sensor, it was confirmed that the friction coefficients of various surfaces can be measured with sufficient accuracy under a practical high-load condition.     

Tire and soil effects on power loss: Measurement and comparison with finite element model results

In the present study, the effect of vertical load, tire inflation pressure and soil moisture content on power loss in tire under controlled soil bin conditions were investigated. Also a finite element model of tire-soil interaction in order to achieve a suitable model for predicting power loss in tire was created. Increasing the vertical load on the tire had a noteworthy impact on increasing the tire contact volume with the soil, reducing the percentage of slip, and increasing the rolling resistance; although, reducing the load on the tire had the opposite effect. At a constant inflation pressure, by increasing the vertical load on the tire, the amount of power loss due to the rolling resistance and the total power loss in the tire increased. Increase in soil moisture content increased the power loss caused by slip. Increasing the inflation pressure at a constant vertical load, also increasing the soil moisture content, led to an increase in the power loss caused by rolling resistance, and increase total power loss. The obtained error for estimating power loss of rolling resistance and total power loss was satisfactory and confirmed the acceptability of the model for power loss estimation.     

子午线轮胎接触变形的结构有限元分析

针对195／60R14子午线轮胎建立了三维非线性有限元模型，着重研究了额定充气压力及静载荷作用下帘线承受拉应力和剪应力的基本特征。计算结果表明，接地区域摩擦力呈斜对称分布，反映了轮胎中帘线-橡胶复合材料存在变形耦合效应；冠带层、带束层、胎体帘线应力分布较为复杂，载荷变化对其应力水平和分布影响较大；在胎肩部位应力较高，且随载荷变化局部帘线应力变化剧烈，在承受交变载荷时，易形成层间剥落。分析结果有助于预测轮胎的使用性能，可以针对性地应用于因轮胎结构设计引起的质量损坏，某些对轮胎使用性能不利的受力状态可通过结构的优化设计来克服。     

Tire deflection and contact studies

Dimensional variations of pneumatic tires influence off-road locomotion and more particularly their aptitude for the transmission of high propulsive torques to the tire-soil contact area.Height variation of the tire when load increases is linear and allows a classification of the casings by means of the angular coefficients for the straight lines expression this relationship.Variation in the level where the enlarging of the torus is maximum is directly connected with the applied load and inversely proportional to the inflation pressure. Ply rating and inflation pressure define a stiffness coefficient for a tire, while the ratio of height to width under load specifies a deformation coefficient, a squash rate and a flattening rate. These three parameters characterize the elasticity of the tire and so are connected to the effective tire-soil contact areas.Compressive effects of the vertical stress as well as the transmitted torques are in relation with tire deformability. The study points to the need for better specification of the parameters for the choice, or for the definition of the desired characteristics for manufacturing, of tires.Experiments already done on superficial compaction effects concluded with a new type of cross section for the tire called the camel shoe.     

Experimental analysis of vertical soil reaction and soil stress distribution under off-road tires

In this study, the vertical soil reaction acting on a driven wheel was measured by strain gages bonded to the left rear axle of a 2WD tractor driven under steady-state condition on different soil surfaces, tractor operations, and combinations of static wheel load and tire inflation pressure. In addition, the measurements of radial and tangential stresses on the soil–tire interface were made simultaneously at lug’s face and leading side near the centerline of the left rear tire using spot pressure sensors. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method of vertical soil reaction measurement is capable of monitoring the real-time vertical wheel load of a moving vehicle and provides a tool for further studies on vehicle dynamics and dynamic wheel–soil interaction. Furthermore, the measured distributions of soil stresses under tractor tire could provide more real insight into the soil–wheel interactions.     

Laboratory experimental study of tire tractive performance on soft soil: Towing mode,traction mode,and multi-pass effect

Tire tractive performance, soil behavior under the traffic, and multi-pass effect are among the key topics in the research of vehicle off-road dynamics. As an extension of the study (He et al., 2019a), this paper documents the testing of a tire moving on soft soil in the traction mode or towing mode, with a single pass or multiple passes, and presents the testing results mainly from the aspects of tire tractive performance parameters, soil behavior parameters, and multi-pass effect on these parameters. The influence of tire inflation pressure, initial soil compaction, tire normal load, or the number of passes on the test data has been analyzed; for some of the tests, the analysis was completed statistically. A multi-pass effect phenomenon, different from any phenomenon recorded in the available existing literature, was discovered and related to the ripple formation and soil failure. The research results of this paper can be considered groundwork for tire off-road dynamics and the development of traction controllers for vehicles on soft soil.     

一种轿车车轮应力状态测量与分析方法

基于台架应变测试试验方法,研究轿车车轮在疲劳试验中的应力状态。结果表明:车轮的径向疲劳试验时,轮胎会对车轮的载荷产生较大的影响,轮胎与转鼓的挤压变形以及正反转动都会对车轮的应力状态产生影响;车轮径向疲劳试验时,最大应变出现在轮辋与轮胎接触位置沿车轮圆周方向,而在靠近轮心位置的应变较小;车轮弯曲疲劳试验时,最大应变出现在轮辐靠近轮心的位置,最大应变出现在轮辐的长度方向;不同的载荷对车轮应变的变化规律并没有影响,但是会对最大和最小峰值产生影响。     

The effect of inflation pressure and vehicle loading on the sidewall of a radial tire

The sidewall is one of the regions where service failures occur in a pneumatic tire. Knowledge of the stresses or strains developed in the sidewall under varying service conditions is required if such pneumatic-tire failures are to be avoided. This paper describes an experimental investigation into the effect of inflation pressure, vehicle load and camber angle on the sidewall-surface strains in a radial tire. Photoelastic coating and a specially designed strain-gaging technique were used. For pure-inflation pressure, the magnitude of the measured shear strains in the sidewall is directly related to the inflation pressure. The maximum sidewall shear strains in pure inflation are located in the lower sidewall (18 mm from bead), irrespective of the magnitude of the inflation pressure. The mendional sidewall strain is predominant in the inflated but otherwise unloaded tire. The meridional strain is proportional to the square root of the inflation pressure. The maximum mendional strain is located in the mid-sidewall region. For a constant vehicle loading, there is a transition inflation pressure below or above which the circumterential shoulder strain increases sharply. This observation highlights the importance of maintaining satistactory inflation pressure in passenger-car tires as an under-inflated tire will induce severe strain development at the shoulder. In addition to the vehicle load, the introduction of camber angle produces localized change in the meridional and circumterential strains within the contact zone. The increase of camber angle up to 10 deg causes continuous increase in the meridional strain in the lower sidewall but decrease in the upper sidewall. The mid-sidewall meridional strains remain practically unchanged. The circumferential strains along the load line are, in general, lower due to the increase in camber angle.     

Dynamic load and inflation pressure effects on contact pressures of a forestry forwarder tire

A Trelleborg Twin 421 Mark II 600/55-26.5 steel-reinforced bias-ply forwarder drive tire at inflation pressures of 100 and 240 kPa and dynamic loads of 23.9 and 40 kN was used at 5% travel reduction on a firm clay soil. Effects of dynamic load and inflation pressure on soil–tire contact pressures were determined using six pressure transducers mounted on the tire tread. Three were mounted on the face of a lug and three at corresponding locations on the undertread. Contact angles increased with decreases in inflation pressure and increases in dynamic load. Contact pressures on a lug at the edge of the tire increased as dynamic load increased. Mean and peak pressures on the undertread generally were less than those on a lug. The peak pressures on a lug occurred forward of the axle in nearly all combinations of dynamic load, inflation pressure, and pressure sensor location, and peak pressures on the undertread occurred to the rear of the axle in most of the combinations. Ratios of the peak contact pressure to the inflation pressure ranged from 0 at the edge of the undertread for three combinations of dynamic load and inflation pressure to 8.39 for the pressure sensor on a lug, near the tire centerline, when the tire was underinflated. At constant dynamic load, net traction and tractive efficiency decreased as inflation pressure increased.     

Rolling deformation of truck tires: Measurement and analysis using a tire sensing approach

Measurements on rolling tire deformation provide deep insights into the mechanism of generating tire forces and moments. For free rolling tires, substantial attention has been given to the rolling resistance because of its significant impact on the fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. This paper attempts to investigate the rolling resistance force through measurements of the rolling deformation of truck tires using a tire sensing approach. An optical tire sensor system is used to measure rolling tire deformation, which includes the deformed inner profile, sidewall deformation, and tread deformation. Measurements were conducted on a test truck for both new and used tires. In addition, the influences from operational factors such as wheel load and inflation pressure on tread deformation were examined and analyzed.     

Tire tread pattern design trigger on the stress distribution over rigid surfaces and soil compaction

Studies comparing the structural differences of tires have not qualitatively or quantitatively considered the effects of tread geometry on tire behaviour or the interactions of the tire with the surface. Therefore, to determine the effects of different tire tread patterns on the stress distribution of the tire and soil compaction, we compared the structural behaviours of a high-flotation tractive-tread (TT) tire and a smooth-tread (ST) tire. The experiments were conducted over a rigid and over a deformable surface. The results from the rigid surface shows the influences of the tread pattern and sidewalls is dependent of the loads. Over the deformable surface, the contact area of the TT tire was larger than that of the ST tire. The inflation pressure (IP) was mainly responsible for the load support before the soil reached its maximum deformation. Next, the tread and sidewalls exhibited the same behaviour as observed on the rigid surface. In addition, we observed alterations in the balloon point with the tread geometry and the type of surface due to changes in the contact pressure. With carcass deformation, the volume of the tire was visibly reduced, which indicated that the IP could increase.     

Slip-based experimental studies of a vehicle interacting with natural snowy terrain

As longitudinal slip affects vehicle–pavement interactions on roads and hard surfaces, so too does it play an important role in interactions between vehicles and soft terrains, including snow. Although many slip-based models have been developed recently for tire–snow interactions (e.g., [1] and references cited therein), these models have only been partially validated, due to a lack of relevant experimental data. This paper presents comprehensive data from tests that were performed using a newly-developed test vehicle traversing natural snowy terrain, over a wide range of values for longitudinal slip, vertical load and torque via an effective accelerate/brake maneuver. Drawbar pull, motion resistance, wheel states and tire stiffness were presented as a function of slip; tire sinkage was obtained using a laser profilometer; strength and depth of snow were found using a snow micropenetrometer. The effects of the rear tire going over snow compacted by the front tire were also studied. The maximum traction force normalized by the vertical load is found to be ≈0.47, maximum motion resistance normalized by the vertical load is ≈0.4. Comparison of the trend and order-of-magnitude of test results with those from existing slip-based numerical model [1] shows good comparison in motion resistance, tire sinkage, and longitudinal stiffness, but indicates that a better traction model is needed to improve the comparison.     

交通荷载下沥青路面车辙三维非线性有限元分析

建立了半刚性沥青路面和柔性沥青路面的三维有限元模型,采用非线性粘弹塑性理论分析了不同交通荷载对沥青路面车辙变形和切应力的影响,并考虑了刹车、路面纵坡对路面车辙的影响。结果表明:在相同荷载作用下,两种路面结构的车辙变形和切应力分布随着路面深度呈非线性分布,但不同路面结构对交通荷载变化的敏感性存在较大的差异;不同的胎压、轮载以及刹车产生的水平力对路面车辙变形有着较大的影响。当胎压为1 050 kPa及轮载为62.5 kN时,路面产生的车辙都大于在标准荷载及标准胎压时路面产生的车辙;在坡度为1%～6%时,路面纵坡对沥青路面车辙深度的影响不明显;在坡道上行车(特别是下行)时刹车是路面车辙过大的主要原因。     

Agricultural tire deformation in the 2D case by finite element methods

The mechanical characteristics of the rubber tire and the interaction between a tire and a rigid surface were investigated by a two-dimensional (2D) finite element (FE) model. The FE model consists of a rigid rim and a rigid contact surface which interact with the elastic tire. Four distinct sets of elastic parameters are used to represent beads, sidewall, tread and lugs. Several sets of tire loads and inflation pressures were applied to the FE model as boundary conditions, together with various displacements and friction conditions. The deformation of the tire profile, the tire displacements in the vertical and lateral directions, the normal contact pressures, the frictional forces and the stress distribution of the tire components were investigated by the 2D FE model under the above boundary conditions. The calculated tire deflections were compared with the measured data. The results show a good fit between calculated and measured data, especially at high load and inflation pressure. The comparison shows that the FE analysis is suitable to predict aspects of the tire performance like its deflection and interactions with the contact surface. Compared with the experimental methods, the FE methods show many advantages in the prediction of tire deformation, contact pressure and stress distribution.     

Effects of tire inflation pressure and tractor velocity on dynamic wheel load and rear axle vibrations

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of agricultural tire characteristics on variations of wheel load and vibrations transmitted from the ground to the tractor rear axle. The experiments were conducted on an asphalt road and a sandy loam field using a two-wheel-drive self-propelled farm tractor at different combinations of tractor forward speeds of approximately 0.6, 1.6 and 2.6 m/s, and tire inflation pressures of 330 and 80 kPa. During experiments, the vertical wheel load of the left and right rear wheels, and the roll, bounce and pitch accelerations of the rear axle center were measured using strain-gage-based transducers and a triaxial accelerometer. The wavelet and Fourier analyses were applied to measured data in order to investigate the effects of self-excitations due to non-uniformity and lugs of tires on the wheel-load fluctuation and rear axle vibrations. Values for the root-mean-square (RMS) wheel loads and accelerations were not strictly proportional and inversely proportional to the forward speed and tire pressure respectively. The time histories and frequency compositions of synthesized data have shown that tire non-uniformity and tire lugs significantly excited the wheel load and accelerations at their natural frequencies and harmonics. These effects were strongly affected by the forward speed, tire pressure and ground deformation.     

Tire footprint characteristics as a function of soil properties and tire operations

The main objective of the following presentation is to examine the possibility of predicting agricultural tire footprint parameters under different operational conditions. The experimental part of the research involved the operation of two agricultural transport tires on two soils, under variations of tire load, inflation pressures and soil moisture contents. Results obtained show that tire footprint parameters, such as contact area, length, width and sinkage, can be reliably predicted using multifactorial linear and total regressions, within the range of recommended tire loads, inflation pressures and soil moisture contents around the plastic limit.     

Lateral slide sinkage tests for a tire and a track shoe

Previous field studies have shown the influence of turning vehicles on rut formation or sinkage. In order to further investigate the relationships, laboratory tests were conduced on a 14.5–20.3 6-PR trailer tire and an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) track shoe in sand. Lateral displacements, and resulting lateral forces, were applied to the tire and track shoe under constant normal forces. The tire was pulled laterally and the track shoe was pulled back and forth to represent actual movement during vehicle turning. Results show that the lateral force and lateral displacement generated by turning maneuver affect sinkage severely for wheeled and tracked vehicles. The final sinkage caused by the lateral force for the tire is 3–5 times to the static sinkage. For the track shoe, the final sinkage caused by the lateral displacement is about three times to the static sinkage.