Tire mechanics symposium held.

The 25th Annual Tire Mechanics Symposium, sponsored by the University of Akron's Department of Mechanical Engineering, will be held July 24-28 on the University of Akron campus, Akron, OH.

This five-day course will provide engineers and scientists with an in-depth, intense study of developments surrounding tire engineering.

Designed for practicing engineers, chemists and scientists concerned with tires and vehicles who have an engineering or science background at the Bachelor of Science level, the symposium will introduce basic aspects of the mechanics of pneumatic tires. Course notes in book form will be provided for all students.

Participants completing this course will be awarded 4.0 continuing education units for attendance. The CEU has been designed to give recognition to persons continuing their education and keeping up-to-date in their chosen field or profession. One unit represents 10 hours of course participation.

On Monday, July 24, Dr. Benjamin T.F. Chung of the University of Akron's Department of Mechanical Engineering will present a welcome and orientation.

Dr. Gerald Potts of Test Measurements Systems will present "The tire as a vehicle component." Today's pneumatic tire must serve four functions, including support a moving load, generate steering forces, generate driving and braking forces, and provide isolation from road irregularities. In examining the complex mechanism involved in satisfying the four requirements, participants will study the tire's importance in determining overall vehicle performance, for no matter what level of complexity is designed into a vehicle, its only communication with the road is through its tire. This presentation will examine basic functions, lateral force tire models, cornering transients and vehicle ride characteristics.

On Tuesday, July 25, Dr. Marion G. Pottinger of Smithers Scientific Services will present "Tire wear, traction and force generation." Tire force generation, wear and traction are all said to be crucially determined by what takes place in the tire/road contact patch. Tire design, kinematics, usage and materials all interact to determine whether a tire wears well, has adequate traction and shows proper cornering behavior. This is a brief look at these properties and the effect of product design on them. Account is taken of the environment. The presentation will examine stresses and displacement in tire contact, tire force generation, tire forces and wear, and tire forces and traction.

Dr. Timothy McDonel, retired from Michelin North America, will present "Tire materials - rubbers/reinforcements." The materials used in today's pneumatic tires are designed to act in concert with construction features to provide optimum durability and performance for a given tire application. Proper rubber compound formulation and application of cord-rubber composites are said to be crucial to the successful operation of a tire. This section will provide the engineer with an introduction to the unique performance and physical properties of rubber compounds and textile materials used in tires. The presentation will examine material composition of a tire, organic polymers - rubber textiles and the rubber compound.

"Tire materials - rubbers/reinforcements" will be continued on Wednesday, July 26. This part of the presentation will examine processing of rubber compounds, reinforcements - textile and steel cord, and physical testing of rubber.

Also on July 26, Dr. Michael Trinko of Goodyear Tire & Rubber will present "Tire stress and deformation analysis." The properties of the anisotropic cord rubber composite have primary control of the overall performance characteristics of pneumatic tires. In order to optimize a given tire performance parameter, a knowledge of the combined cord rubber composite material properties is necessary and will be examined in this part of the course. The presentation will examine composite material stiffness calculation, and analytical techniques (classical methods), including equilibrium tire design, cord load, bead force and burst pressure calculations, and standing/traveling waves.

On Thursday, July 27, "Tire stress and deformation analysis" will continue with an examination of experimental techniques (point and whole field methods), including cord tension and rubber strain measurements, belt edge strains/durability, and tire-to-road and tire-to-rim contact.

Dr. Alan Gent of Goodyear Tire & Rubber and the University of Akron will present "Strength, wear and friction of rubber." To fully understand tire wear, a basic knowledge of the mechanical (viscoelastic) properties of rubber is said to be needed. This allows for a discussion of the mechanics of rubber friction and wear (abrasion) as deduced from laboratory studies of tearing and fatigue. Armed with this background material, the understanding of tire wear is said to become a less formidable operation. This presentation will examine mechanical properties of rubber, including rubber hardness and strength, damping properties, friction and abrasive wear.

On Friday, July 28, Dr. Joseph Padovan of the University of Akron will present "Advanced tire models." This presentation will include past, present and possible future analytical-numerical models of the tire, a comprehensive development of the analytical description of tire behavior and discussions of presently used numerical simulation techniques, as well as a summary of available computer codes. Since the finite element method is said to have proven most successful to date, emphasis will be given to overviewing current applications, as well as possible future extensions. The presentation will examine general requirements of analytical models, survey of currently available models (rings, membranes, shells and 3-D), numerical simulation techniques (including survey of numerical integration finite difference and finite element techniques, and recent applications to tire simulation), survey of available numerical simulation codes and a dynamic model.

The registration fee for the 25th Annual Tire Mechanics Symposium is $1,300 and includes all lunches and a Monday reception. Further information is available from Nancy Clem [phone].