Measurement and Analysis of the Influence Factors of Tractor Tire Contact Area Based on a Multiple Linear Regression Equation

Abstract

Tractor tire three-dimensional (3D) contact area is one of the significant concerns of the soil-tire coupling mechanism, and it influence soil compaction and the sustainable development of agriculture. In this study, we developed a method to measure the 3D contact area of a pneumatic tire using a laser profiler on a signal tire soil-bin testing facility. A 6.00-14 bias-ply tire with high lugs was driven on sandy loam soil in a soil-bin testing facility under different vertical loads, driving speeds, and inflation pressures. Then, we developed a multiple linear regression equation between the influence factors and tractor tire contact area. The results indicated that the contact area was impacted by the three factors involved in this study, and the inflation pressure significantly influenced results, and the combination of high speed (3 m/s), low inflation pressure (69 kPa), and high tire load (2.5 kN) led to a relatively high contact area on the soil-tire contact interface and possible severe soil compaction. Also, we found that the contact area varied in a quadratic manner with speed at a given inflation pressure and tire load and varied in a quadratic manner with inflation pressure at a given speed and tire load and varied linearly with the tire load for a given speed and inflation pressure.