Digital Image Acquisition and Treatment of the Tire Tread to Evaluate the Physical Condition of Front-wheel-drive Vehicles Tires

Abstract

Abstract: The development of this paper born under the need to expand the content of a topic of vital importance such as the tire footprint, from this, along with the contact pressure distribution, it is possible to determine the tire´s behavior, their wear and their influence on the vehicle´s handling, these parameters can´t be obtained directly cause the tire is in contact with the ground. For this a simple equipment capable of obtaining a clear image of the study tire in real time was constructed when the vehicle is stopped. Tests were carried out on three types of tires and images of the tire were obtained at different inflation pressures and with different wear on its tread. Then, from these images, a computer program was developed for its digital treatment to determine parameters of tire operation, contact area, wear type and pressure distribution in the footprint. The results obtained meet the objective of the research since the images obtained were clear and the computer program shows results similar to those obtained manually and to results of previous studies done by the tire manufacturers.