Dynamic hydroplaning of pneumatic tires

This paper examines the nature of and necessary conditions for pneumatic tire hydroplaning. Both an analysis of the fluid flow and a study of the nature and importance of tire deformation are treated. A two-dimensional mathematical treatment of the three-dimensional flow is made in terms of the mean quantities over the film thickness. Viscous and inertial effects are included and the possible effect of turbulence is analyzed. Two approximate boundary conditions for the fluid flow problem at the inlet edge are presented. Numerical results for these two cases are analyzed and then compared to the gross and detailed properties of the fluid flow system that have been determined experimentally by other investigators. The comparison shows that the results are not sensitive to the details of the leading edge condition. An experimental study performed to establish the limits of the present analysis for the hydroplaning of an arbitrary deformed surface showed theory and experiment to be in close agreement for realistic values of the parameters.