Experimental Characterisation of Tyre Indentation by Simulated Runway Debris

As part of an investigation to assess the impact threat posed to vehicles by tyre-lofted runway debris, it is important to gain a quantitative understanding of the interaction between inflated tyres and foreign objects. In this paper, experiments involving indentation of an inflated tyre to represent over-rolling of a foreign object were used to estimate the energy that could be transferred to the over-rolled object. The maximum kinetic energy that a 24-mm diameter spherical stone could potentially attain from such an indentation-related loft mechanism by a tyre inflated to 0.34 MPa (50 psi) was 20 J.