Aircraft Tire Tread Cavities for Debris Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft tires face critical failure modes during take-off or landing due to tread loss from blunt objects, leading to significant structural damage or engine issues from large, high-speed tread debris, with existing solutions either increasing aircraft mass or adding detrimental payload penalties.
Innovation Solution
The design of an aircraft tire with circumferential ribs and rows of cavities inclined at 45° or more, distributed along the periphery to weaken the tread radially and promote cracking, reducing the size and mass of debris upon detachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If protection devices or splitting devices are added externally to the tire, then the dimensions and mass of tread pieces are reduced, but the aircraft payload is penalized due to additional structure mass
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the debris reduction function into the tire tread structure itself by forming cavities within the circumferential ribs. This integration eliminates the need for separate external protection or splitting devices, thereby reducing additional structure mass while maintaining the ability to limit tread piece dimensions upon detachment
Solution Approach 2:
The tread is segmented into circumferential ribs with cavities formed within them. These cavities create predetermined weak points that segment the tread into smaller sections, ensuring that when tread detachment occurs, the pieces are limited in size and mass, reducing the harmful projection effect without requiring external segmentation devices
2Reliability
If the tread is reinforced to prevent detachment, then tread loss is reduced, but the mass of the tire increases, penalizing aircraft performance
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than uniformly reinforcing the entire tread, the invention applies local quality changes by forming cavities at specific locations within the circumferential ribs. This localized modification creates controlled weak points that manage detachment behavior without requiring overall tread reinforcement, thereby maintaining reliability while avoiding excessive mass increase
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a tire for an aircraft, including a tread (2) including at least two circumferential ribs (4) adjacent to at least one circumferential groove (5), each circumferential rib (4) extending axially between the two side surfaces (7) and circumferentially over the entire periphery of the tire. The tread (2) includes lines (8) of recess (9) formed in at least one circumferential groove (4) and opening onto the rolling surface (3). Said lines are mutually parallel, angled relative to the circumferential direction (XX') of the tire at an angle (i) >= 45°, and distributed over at least a portion of the periphery of the tire according to a circumferential pitch (p) >= 0.02 times and <= 0.12 times the circumferential length of the periphery of the tire (1).