Ellis, J. R.; Frank, F.; Hinton, B. J.
Description:
SUMMARY
This report describes the analysis of a series of experiments on pneumatic tyres
which were designed to test the various hypotheses: regarding the deformed shape of a
tyre during the steering process.
The experiments consisted of several separate tests first described in Ref. 1 and 2.
a) The application of a point lateral force or a moment at one position on the tread band
which is restrained at the centre of the wheel, and the measurement of the resulting
lateral deflection of each point of the tyre perimeter.
b) The application of a uniform force around the tyre perimeter on a hollow cylindrical
former and applying a load at the centre of the wheel.
c) Direct determination of tread band tension by cutting the tread band and bridging the
cut by a dynamometer.
d) Estimation of the bending modulus of the tread band by test on sections cut from the
tread band.
The analysis of the experiments is carried out by first transforming the test results
into a Fourier series and determining the spectral content of the bending line with an
harmonic analysis. Transfer functions of beam and string models are derived and applied
to the test results. A method of considering a three parameter model is described.