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A non-pneumatic tire (NPT) has two advantages over a conventional pneumatic tire; it is flat proof and maintenance free of air-pressure. In this study, while determining other advantages inherent in NPTs, the static contact behavior of NPTs with hexagonal honeycombs is investigated as a function of vertical loading and is compared with that of a pneumatic tire. A finite element based numerical simulation is carried out on the contact pressure of NPTs with cellular spokes and the local deformation of cellular spokes. A commercial finite element code, ABAQUS, is used to vary the vertical forces and lattice spoke geometries. A lower contact pressure is obtained with the NPTs than with the pneumatic tire due to the decreasing spoke stiffness of the NPTs when they are designed to have the same load carrying capability.

A Non-Pneumatic Tire (NPT) appears to have advantages over the conventional pneumatic tire in terms of flat proof and maintenance free. In this study, the static contact pressure of NPTs with hexagonal honeycomb spokes is investigated as a function of vertical loading and is compared with that of a pneumatic tire. Finite element based numerical simulation of the 2D contact pressure of a NPT is carried out with ABAQUS for varying vertical forces and lattice spoke geometries. A lower contact pressure is obtained with NPTs than with the pneumatic tire due to a high lateral spoke stiffness of NPTs when they are designed to be the same load carrying capability. The NPT with the spoke of a low cell angle, Type A spoke in this study, shows a low contact pressure; Type A in this study. On the other hand, the NPT with Type C spoke shows a lower local stress in the spoke cell struts, associated with the flexible cellular structural property in the uni-axial compression.