Evaluation of Contact Force and Pressure of Heavy Vehicle's Supersingle Tire versus Dual Tires

In recent years, supersingle tires have been introduced in order to replace dual tires. In some countries such replacement is not a straight forward issue due to either lack of knowledge on its mechanical behavior or because their regulations do not consider such tire configuration. Usually, it is assumed that the force transmitted by dual single tires onto the roadway surface is evenly distributed and the contact pressure is quite similar to the tire's inflation pressure, although studies in this topic have shown that these assumptions are not realistic. Therefore, damage produced by supersingle tires is a main concern for road and transportation authorities. In order to obtain information on supersingle tires' behavior, a lab experimental assessment was carried out. Hence, this paper describes the work done on comparing the behavior of a supersingle tire and its brand-and-model equivalent single dual tires in terms of force transmitted onto the pavement surface and tire's contact pressures. The research was performed for several tire load levels and different tire inflation pressures. Findings showed that for the specific tires employed in this research, supersingle tire developed a more evenly distributed force transmitted onto the pavement surface and tire's contact pressures than single dual tires. Nevertheless, it is suggested to perform similar tests by using some other tire brands and models, which may differ from the manufacturing technique of supersingle tires used for this research.