Tire manufacturers can now get high-speed, flat surface contact patch tire pressure data under repeatable and controlled lab conditions. 

Tekscan and Calspan revealed a revolutionary new measurement technology that captures tire motion on a flat road surface more accurately than traditional high speed drum systems can simulate. This work represents the culmination of three years of R&D and testing which began in 2019 when the two companies combined Calspan's 75 years of tire testing expertise with Tekscan's industry leading pressure mapping capabilities to develop next-generation testing methods for tire analysis and modeling.    

The technology has been used with select customers at Calspan's indoor tire testing facility, capturing tire contact patch pressure distribution when rolling at dynamic conditions on the flat-belt tire test machine. It has been highly effective at increasing the understanding of how tire contact patch areas behave in various dynamic conditions. 

This more sophisticated contact patch model improves the results of physical thermo-mechanical models compared with the standard parabolic pressure distribution assumptions.  

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