Exploitable results Predictive failure model for designing track tyres Experimental methods for the characterisation of mechanical properties, chemical composition and morphological structure of rubber samples, taken from critical failure regions were developed. Changes induced on rubber compounds by service life in high severity conditions were determined. Changes were found to be moderate with no evidence of oxidations. Tridimensional finite element code was used to calculate the stress strain field at the belt edge. Fracture mechanics concepts were introduced in order to compare the results of laboratory experiments with the tyre performance. The predictive power of the known fatigue tests was found to be poor. A new testing rig which submit the specimens to a stress strain field similar to that calculated for tyre was designed and built. Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
