TRANSPORTATION

ENGINEERING II
CONTACT AREA (TYRE AND ROAD)

 The shape of the contact area

between tyre and the road is
approximately circular when the load
is small relative to the maximum
recommended load for the tyre, but it
gets elongated as the wheel load is
increased at a constant inflation
pressure.

 In calculating pavement stresses

resulting from the passage of traffic, it
is normally assumed that the load
carried by the wheel is uniformly
distributed over a circular area.
The radius of the loading is
calculated from the wheel load and
the tyre pressure.

 The relationship between contact area and

the wheel load obtained in this way is
shown for the tyre and the loading
conditions.
The curves for the actual contact area and
the computed area are similar for the
lowest two wheel loads used when the
contact envelope is approximately circular,
but they diverge considerably for the
higher wheel loads.

 Measurements of actual pressure acting

between the tyre and the road shows that,
where the load ratio (actual wheel load :
recommended maximum wheel load) for
the tyre is small, the distribution of
pressure across the tyre area is
parabolic.
Most heavily loaded wheels are fitted with
dual tyres, so spaced that at the correct
tyre pressure the deformed parts of the
tyres in contact with the road do not touch
each other.