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Internal Measurement of Tire Deflection
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: 2026 ASABE Annual International Meeting 2600196.(doi:10.13031/aim.202600196)Authors: Christopher M. Mauldin, John K. Schueller, Carl D. Crane, III, Henry Medeiros, Daniel Hofstetter
Keywords: Tire, Inflation, Sensor, Test, Tractor, Wheel
Abstract. A mobile test stand was designed and manufactured to test single drive tires of medium size tractors and other related equipment in on-road and off-road locations. The stand was loaded to provide different vertical loads and an integrated braking system provided an adjustable torque load to the tested tire. Instrumentation on the test stand measured and recorded the loads in the vertical and travel directions, as well as the torque load. Data processing and analysis techniques were developed and utilized to study the data from the loading and the tire‘s deflections.
Sparkfun VL53L4CD sensors were mounted in an array on the outside of the wheel rim within the pressurized volume of the tire to measure the tire deflections from the inside of the tire. Tire rotation and air pressure were also instrumented.
The system allows the determination of the deflection of the tire under various conditions, including varying surfaces (such as pavements, grasses, crops, and bare soils), surface hardnesses, varying air inflation pressures, varying vertical loads, and varying wheel torque loads.
The system successfully measured the internal deflection of tires while traversing under load. Besides providing information on tire behavior, this technology is of potential benefit in providing feedback for central tire inflation systems as they continue to become more popular in commercial marketplaces.
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