Tire Tread Tie Bar Segmentation for Mud Ejection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tire designs with tie bars in lateral grooves do not adequately enhance mud performance and steering stability, particularly on muddy ground.
Innovation Solution
A tire tread design featuring circumferential and lateral grooves with raised groove bottoms forming tie bars that penetrate axially, enhancing block rigidity and mud volume retention, while maintaining non-contacting side walls and a minimum groove width of 2 mm to secure volume under load and forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a tie bar is formed in the lateral groove, then block rigidity is improved, but mud performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The tie bar is segmented by introducing groove portions that divide it into multiple sections. This segmentation reduces the continuous rigid structure's interference with mud ejection while maintaining enough rigidity to connect adjacent blocks. The groove portions create gaps that allow mud to pass through more easily, resolving the contradiction between rigidity and mud performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The tie bar has non-uniform structure with groove portions at specific locations, creating local variations in rigidity. The groove portions are positioned to allow mud ejection while maintaining block connection rigidity where needed. This local quality adjustment optimizes both block rigidity and mud performance by having different structural characteristics in different regions of the tie bar.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the groove portion width is increased to maintain volume, then mud performance is improved, but steering stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The groove portion width is set to a specific minimum (2 mm or more) rather than being maximized. This partial action provides sufficient space for mud ejection while avoiding excessive width that would compromise steering stability. The 2 mm threshold represents the optimal balance point where mud performance is adequately improved without over-compromising structural integrity for steering.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the tie bar connects blocks rigidly, then steering stability is improved, but mud ejection capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid tie bar connection is segmented by groove portions that create discontinuities. These segments maintain enough connection rigidity for steering stability while creating channels for mud ejection. The segmentation transforms the continuous rigid structure into a semi-rigid structure with built-in ejection pathways.
Solution Approach 2:
The tie bar incorporates groove portions that create a porous or perforated structure, allowing mud to pass through the tie bar region. This porous characteristic enables mud ejection capability while the remaining solid portions of the tie bar maintain sufficient rigidity for steering stability.
Data Source
AI summary
A tire includes a tread formed with: circumferential grooves extending continuously in a tire circumferential direction; lateral grooves connecting the circumferential grooves in a tire axial direction; and blocks divided by the circumferential grooves and the lateral grooves. In the lateral groove, a groove bottom is raised to form a tie bar connecting the blocks in the tire circumferential direction. The tie bar is formed with a groove portion penetrating the tie bar in the tire axial direction. In a state where the tire is assembled to a regular rim, filled with a regular internal pressure, loaded with a regular load, and contacting a flat surface at a camber angle 0°, a side wall formed on the tie bar by the groove portion on one side in the tire circumferential direction does not contact a side wall on the other side in the tire circumferential direction.