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.     

Soil displacement beneath an agricultural tractor drive tire

Soil strain transducers were used to determine strain in an initially loose sandy loam soil in a soil bin beneath the centerline of an 18.4R38 radial-ply tractor drive tire operating at 10% travel reduction. The initial depth of the midpoints of the strain transducers beneath the undisturbed soil surface was 220 mm. Strain was determined in the vertical, longitudinal, and lateral directions. Initial lengths of strain transducers were approximately 118 mm for the longitudinal and lateral transducers and 136 mm for the vertical transducer. The tire dynamic load was 25 kN and the inflation pressure was 110 kPa, which was a recommended pressure corresponding to the load. In each of four replications, as the tire approached and passed over the strain transducers, the soil first compressed in the longitudinal direction, then elongated, and then compressed again. The soil was compressed in the vertical direction and elongated in the lateral direction. Mean natural strains of the soil following the tire pass were −0.200 in the vertical direction, +0.127 in the lateral direction, and −0.027 in the longitudinal direction. The mean final volumetric natural strain from the strain transducer data was −0.099, which was only 35% of the mean change in natural volumetric strain calculated from soil core samples, −0.286. This difference likely resulted from the greater length of the lateral strain transducer relative to the 69 mm lateral dimension of the soil cores. The strain transducer data indicated the occurrence of plastic flow in the soil during one of the four replications. These results indicate the complex nature of soil movement beneath a tire during traffic and emphasize a shortcoming of soil bulk density data because soil deformation can occur during plastic flow while soil bulk density remains constant.     

On the stress state of a piezoceramic body with a flat crack under symmetric loads

A static-equilibrium problem is solved for an electroelastic transversely isotropic medium with a flat crack of arbitrary shape located in the plane of isotropy. The medium is subjected to symmetric mechanical and electric loads. A relationship is established between the stress intensity factor (SIF) and electric-displacement intensity factor (EDIF) for an infinite piezoceramic body and the SIF for a purely elastic material with a crack of the same shape. This allows us to find the SIF and EDIF for an electroelastic material directly from the corresponding elastic problem, not solving electroelastic problems. As an example, the SIF and EDIF are determined for an elliptical crack in a piezoceramic body assuming linear behavior of the stresses and the normal electric displacement on the crack surface __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 41, No. 11, pp. 67–77, November 2005.     

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.     

Flange stress and bolt loads

A steel-to-aluminum flange joint was simulated by a plane model. The flanges and the bolt were made separately and assembled with the desired preload. The relative rigidities of these components were reproduced by the use of various materials and thicknesses. Birefringent material was utilized in conjunction with normal photoelastic techniques to evaluate, with respect to duct loading, the loads in the bolt at various preloads and the stresses in the flange sections.     

Effects of reduced inflation pressure and vehicle loading on off-road traction and soil stress and deformation state

Field experiments on off-road vehicle traction and wheel–soil interactions were carried out on sandy and loess soil surfaces. A 14 T, 6 × 6 military truck was used as a test vehicle, equipped with 14.00-20 10 PR tyres, nominally inflated to 390 kPa. Tests were performed at nominal and reduced (down to 200 kPa) inflation pressures and at three vehicle loading levels: empty weight, loaded with 3.6 and 6.0 T mass (8000, 11,600 and 14,000 kg, respectively). Traction was measured with a load cell, attached to the rear of the test vehicle as well as to another, braking vehicle. Soil stress state was determined with the use of an SST (stress state transducer), which consists of six pressure sensors. Soil surface deformation was measured in vertical and horizontal directions, with a videogrammetric system. Effects of reduced inflation pressure as well as wheel loading on traction and wheel–soil interactions were analyzed. It was noticed that reduced inflation pressure had positive effects on traction and increased stress under wheels. Increasing wheel load resulted in increasing drawbar pull. These effects and trends are different for the two soil surfaces investigated. The soil surface deformed in two directions: vertical and longitudinal. Vertical deformations were affected by loading, while longitudinal were affected by inflation pressure.     

A ductile damage criterion at various stress triaxialities

The paper discusses the effect of stress triaxiality on the onset and evolution of damage in ductile metals. A series of tests including shear tests and experiments on smooth and pre-notched tension specimens was carried out for a wide range of stress triaxialities. The underlying continuum damage model is based on kinematic definition of damage tensors. The modular structure of the approach is accomplished by the decomposition of strain rates into elastic, plastic and damage parts. Free energy functions with respect to fictitious undamaged configurations as well as damaged ones are introduced separately leading to elastic material laws which are affected by increasing damage. In addition, a macroscopic yield condition and a flow rule are used to adequately describe the plastic behavior. Numerical simulations of the experiments are performed and good correlation of tests and numerical results is achieved. Based on experimental and numerical data the damage criterion formulated in stress space is quantified. Different branches of this function are taken into account corresponding to different damage modes depending on stress triaxiality and Lode parameter. In addition, identification of material parameters is discussed in detail.     

Solving problems on the stress state of thin shells of revolution under local loads

An approach to the solution of problems on the deformation of locally loaded orthotropic shells of revolution is proposed. Some analytical transformations are carried out to reduce the initial resolving system of partial differential equations to the form where the constant terms representing the surface loads are continuous functions of the circumferential coordinate. This allows us to accelerate the convergence of the trigonometric series that represent the desired solution. One-dimensional boundary-value problems are solved by a stable numerical method. Examples of solving problems on the stress state of a cylindrical shell are presented. The scientific results of the present work were obtained during implementation of Project No. 14 of the Ukrainian Scientific and Technological Center. S. P. Timoshenko Institute of Mechanics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 106–113, April, 2000.     

Computational investigation of hydrodynamics,coal combustion and NOx emissions in a tangentially fired pulverized coal boiler at various loads

This work presents a computational investigation of hydrodynamics, coal combustion and NOx emissions in a tangentially fired pulverized coal boiler at different loads (630, 440 and 300 MW; relative loads of 100%, 70% and 48%) to clarify the effect of load change on the furnace processes. A computational fluids dynamics model was established; the flow field, temperature profile, species concentration and NOx emissions were predicted numerically; and the influence of burner tilt angles was evaluated. Simulation results indicate that a decrease in boiler load decreases the gas velocity, attenuates the airflow rotations, and increases the tangent circle size. The high-temperature zone and flame moved toward the side walls. Such behaviors impair air–fuel mixing, heat transfer and steady combustion in the furnace. In terms of species concentrations, a decrease in boiler load increased the O₂ content, decreased the CO content, and decreased the char burnout rates only slightly. A change in boiler load from 630 to 440 and 300 MW increased the NOx emissions from 202 to 234 and 247 mg/m³, respectively. Burner tilt angles are important in coal combustion and NOx emissions. A burner angle of –15° favors heat transfer and low NOx emissions (<185 mg/m³) for the current tangentially fired boiler.     

Determination of resudual stress fields beneath a Vickers indentation using photoelasticity

Static Vickers indentation tests were performed on Homalite specimens with an intent to obtain the residual stress distribution beneath the indentation. The indented specimens were placed in a circular polariscope to view the fringe patterns corresponding to the induced residual stress. Similitude analysis was later employed to identify the functional relationship between the various parameters related to an indentation test. The analysis resulted in a unified relationship that can assist in the determination of residual stress in nontransparent materials subjected to similar geometric and loading conditions. The shear stress contours provided here can also be used as guidelines to verify constitutive models under complex three-dimensional loads.     

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.     

Wall pressure and shear stress measurements beneath an impinging jet

This paper presents comprehensive measurements of wall pressure and surface shear stress beneath a plane, two-dimensional, turbulent jet impinging normally onto a flat surface. The results cover a wider range of Reynolds number and ratio of impingement height (H) to nozzle gap (D) than do previous studies. The pressure distributions are nearly Gaussian, independent of Reynolds number, and closely balance the momentum flux from the jet nozzle as H/D varies. Particular attention was paid to probe size in measuring the wall shear stress because this has a significant effect on the results. A range of Preston tubes and Stanton probes were tested from which it was found that a 0.05-mm-high Stanton probe—the smallest that we could make—appeared to give accurate results. As expected, the shape of the wall shear stress distributions depended both on H/D and on Reynolds number. Furthermore, the relation between wall pressure and shear stress from Hiemenz's theoretical solution for stagnation flow is not in agreement with the results. It is postulated that the discrepancy is due to the relatively high free-stream turbulence level in the jet. Future papers will document the mean flow field and turbulence and the time dependence of the surface pressure.     

Gas content of a foam bed at reduced pressures

The gas content of a foam bed has been experimentally investigated using a 50 × 80 mm² column at the following parameters: pressure P=0.1–1.0 bar, W=0.5-2.0 m/sec, H = 140–180 mm. In all cases the gas phase was air and the liquid phase was water and aqueous solutions of ethanol and glycerol. It has been established that reducing the pressure causes a considerable decrease in gas content, leading to an increase in the depth of the starting layer of liquid h₀. A formula that conforms with the experimental data to within ± 10% is obtained for the gas content.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 166–169, March–April, 1970.     

Stress state of a piezoelectric ceramic body with a plane crack under antisymmetric loads

The static equilibrium of an electroelastic transversely isotropic space with a plane crack under antisymmetric mechanical loads is studied. The crack is located in the plane of isotropy. Relationships are established between the stress intensity factors (SIFs) for an infinite piezoceramic body and the SIFs for a purely elastic body with a crack of the same form under the same loads. This makes it possible to find the SIFs for an electroelastic body without the need to solve specific electroelasitc problems. As an example, the SIFs are determined for a piezoelastic body with penny-shaped and elliptic cracks under shear __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 32–42, February 2006.     

Explosion characteristics of coal gas under various initial temperatures and pressures

Explosion limits data are essential for a quantitative risk assessment of explosion hazard associated with the use of coal gas. The present work is to investigate the influence of various initial temperatures and pressures on explosion characteristics of coal gas/air mixture. The explosion limits and the minimum ignition energy of coal gas/air mixture are obtained experimentally at various temperatures ranging from 20 to 80°C and pressures ranging from 0.1 to 0.2 MPa. An empirical equation is established from the experimental results for the effects of initial temperatures and pressures on explosion limits. By adding diluent (nitrogen) into coal gas/air mixtures, the dilution effects on the explosion limits have been explored as well, and a critical flammable concentration of coal gas is determined to be at 7.4–9.0% by volume. By means of a high-speed digital video camera, the flame front development is recorded and analyzed. The tests are carried out with lean, stoichiometric and rich mixtures of coal gas in air under the conditions of initial pressure and nitrogen addition. Furthermore, the influence of the initial pressure and the concentration on the explosion pressure is measured and compared against theoretical results, where a good agreement is observed.     

Stress state of a transversely isotropic magnetoelectroelastic body with a plane crack under antisymmetric loads

The static equilibrium of a transversely isotropic magnetoelectroelastic body with a plane crack of arbitrary shape in the isotropy plane under antisymmetric mechanical loading is studied. The relationships between the stress intensity factors (SIFs) for an infinite magnetoelectroelastic body and the SIFs for a purely elastic body with the same crack and under the same antisymmetric loading are established. This enables the SIFs for a magnetoelectroelastic body to be found directly from the analogous problem of elasticity. As an example of using this result, the SIFs for penny-shaped, elliptic, and parabolic cracks in a magnetoelectroelastic body under antisymmetric mechanical loading are found Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 44, No. 10, pp. 37–51, October 2008.