Abstract

When evaluating aircraft brake control system performance, it is difficult to overstate the importance of understanding dynamic tire forces—especially those related to tire friction behavior. As important as they are, however, these dynamic tire forces cannot be easily or reliably measured. To fill this need, an analytical approach has been developed to determine instantaneous tire forces during aircraft landing, braking and taxi operations. The approach involves using aircraft instrumentation data to determine forces (other than tire forces), moments, and accelerations acting on the aircraft. Inserting these values into the aircraft’s six degree-of-freedom equations-of-motion allows solution for the tire forces. While there are significant challenges associated with this approach, results to date have exceeded expectations in terms of fidelity, consistency, and data scatter. The results show excellent correlation to tests conducted in a tire test laboratory. And, while the results generally follow accepted tire friction theories, there are noteworthy differences.