Editorial Type:
Article Category: Other
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Online Publication Date: 01 Jul 2013

Rolling Resistance of a Nonpneumatic Tire Having a Porous Elastomer Composite Shear Band

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Page Range: 154 – 173
DOI: 10.2346/tire.13.410303
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ABSTRACT

The shear band is the critical component of a nonpneumatic tire (NPT) when determining the rolling resistance resulting from the elastomer's shear friction. In an effort to reduce the rolling resistance of an NPT, a shear band made of a porous, fiber-reinforced elastomer is explored. The porous shear band is designed to have the same effective shear modulus as the shear modulus of a continuous shear band. The originality of the study in this article is in the design of a flexible, porous solid for fuel efficiency of a tire structure by including a low viscoelastic energy loss material—a carbon fiber that partially replaces the volume of high viscoelastic energy loss material—polyurethane. To make the NPT structure remain flexible, porous volumes were included. Finite element (FE)–based numerical experiments with ABAQUS were conducted to quantify the reduced energy loss of an NPT using hyperelastic and viscoelastic material models. Load carrying capacity of the NPT with the designed porous shear band is also discussed.

Keywords: rolling resistance; nonpneumatic tire; NPT; shear band
FIG. 1 —
FIG. 1 —

Schematic of NPTs.

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FIG. 2 —

Sandwich structures with (a) a continuous shear band core, and (b) a porous shear band core.

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FIG. 3 —

Geometry of the spoke.

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FIG. 4 —

Hyperelastic and viscoelastic material behaviors of a PU [32].

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FIG. 5 —

Hyperelastic and viscoelastic material behaviors of a synthetic rubber [34].

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FIG. 6 —

Vertical force–deflection curves of NPTs having a continuous and a porous shear band made of PU.

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FIG. 7 —

Schematic of a unidirectional fiber reinforced porous elastomer.

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FIG. 8 —

Effective moduli of a unidirectional, fiber-reinforced elastomer (IM7/PU) as a function of Vf.

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FIG. 9 —

Flowchart for the design of the porous PU composite shear band of a NPT.

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FIG. 10 —

Vertical force–deflection curves of NPTs having a continuous PU shear band (Type A) and a porous PU composite shear band (Type B).

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FIG. 11 —

Hyperelastic stress-strain behaviors of a PU composite.

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FIG. 12 —

Effective loss factor of a unidirectional, fiber-reinforced elastomer (IM7/PU) as a function of fiber volume ratio.

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FIG. 13 —

Viscoelastic properties of a PU composite in the transverse shear direction.

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FIG. 14 —

Hysteresis curves of a NPT under a vertical displace loading.

FIG. 15 —
FIG. 15 —

Rolling resistance curves of NPTs with a continuous PU shear band (Type A) and a porous PU composite shear band (Type B).

Contributor Notes

1  Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76207, USA
2  Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29734-0921, USA
3 Corresponding author. Email: jsummer@clemson.edu
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