Abstract
Radial tires for automobiles were subjected to high speed rolling under load on a testing wheel to determine the critical speeds at which standing waves started to form. Tires of different makes had significantly different critical speeds.
The damping coefficient and mass per unit length of the tire wall were measured and a correlation between these properties and the observed critical speed of standing wave formation was sought through use of a circular membrane model. As expected from the model, desirably high critical speed calls for a high damping coefficient and a low mass per unit length of the tire wall. The damping coefficient is particularly important.
Surprisingly, those tire walls that were reinforced with steel cord had higher damping coefficients than did those reinforced with polymeric cord. Although the individual steel filaments are elastic, the interfilament friction is higher in the steel cords than in the polymeric cords. A steel-reinforced tire wall also has a higher density per unit length.
The damping coefficient is directly related to the mechanical loss in cyclic deformation and, hence, to the rolling resistance of a tire. The study shows that, in principle, it is more difficult to design a tire that is both fuel-efficient and free from standing waves when steel cord is used than when polymeric cords are used.
