Static Radical Stiffness and Contact Behavior of Non-pneumatic Mechanical Elastic Wheel

Conventional pneumatic tires exhibit disadvantages such as puncture, blowout at high speed, pressure maintenance, etc. Owing to these structural inevitable weaknesses, non-pneumatic tires have been developed and are investigated. A non-pneumatic mechanical elastic wheel(NPMEW)is introduced and investigated as a function of static radical stiffness characteristics and contact behavior. A bench test method is utilized to improve the riding comfort and the traction traffic ability of NPMEW based on tire characteristics test rig, and the static radical stiffness characteristics and the contact behavior of NPMEW are compared with that of an insert supporting run-flat tire (ISRFT). The vertical force-deformation curves and deformed shapes and contact areas of the NPMEW and ISRFT are obtained using a set of vertical loads. The contact behavior is evaluated using extracted geometrical and mechanical feature parameters of the two tires. The results indicate that the NPMEW appears to exhibit considerably high radical stiffness, and the numerical value is dependent on the mechanical characteristic of the flexible tire body and hinge units. NPMEW demonstrates more uniform contact pressure than ISRFT within a certain loading range, and it can efficiently mitigate the problem of stress concentration in ISRFT shoulder under heavy load and enhance the wear resistance and ground grip performances. © 2019, Editorial Department of Transactions of NUAA. All right reserved.