Contact pressure distribution has been an important issue on the tire design due to its significant effect on passengers’ comfort, vehicle handling, wear, and noise. Motivated by our previous finite element results on contact pressure reduction with a non-pneumatic tire (NPT) of two-dimensional (2D) lattice spokes, we explore structural performance of a NPT tire with three-dimensional (3D) lattice spokes. In this study, static contact pressure of a NPT with 3D lattice spokes is investigated as a function of vertical load and is compared with that of a pneumatic tire. Finite element based numerical simulation of the contact pressure of a NPT is conducted with ABAQUS for varying vertical forces and 3D lattice spoke geometries.

For an accurate evaluation of the failure stress of tire and pavement materials, both the tire and pavement need to be modeled as nonlinear materials. In this study, a hyperelastic model of a truck tire and an elasto-viscoplastic model for pavement are implemented and their interaction effect on contact stresses is investigated. Finite element (FE) analysis with ABAQUS is used to simulate the interaction models of the truck tire and pavement. The interaction of hyperelastic and elasto-viscoplastic models for a truck tire and pavement shows accurate contact pressure for the truck tire and accurate stress distribution of the pavement.