Bryan;
I'll bet they would--- $$$ is not too much of a problem in USAF research.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Savage [mailto:basavage@earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 3:13 PM
To: Albaugh, Neil
Cc: 'John Burk'; land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: So Cal Lakester - wheels & 'tyres'
Neil,
You made a question pop into my head. The military has had landing
system problems with
fast X-planes. To my knowledge, the USAF as only used wheels with
inflated tires or
skids (X-15). If there was a better way, wouldn't they be using it?
Bryan
Albaugh, Neil wrote:
>John;
>
>For years people have been coming up with various schemes for replacing the
>pneumatic tire (tyre for Malcolm) but those have never been completely
>satisfactory-- for various reasons.
>
>One of the most important features of the pneumatic tire is its ability to
>generate tread distortion when run at an angle; this "slip angle" creates a
>restoring torque, generating the lateral force necessary to go around a
>corner.
>
> Going back to forklifts (no, not RWS) those solid rubber tires are
>miserable to drive and have a pretty short life. Their ability to transfer
>every bump and vibration to the chassis is almost nil. Keeping the
>wheel/tire combination in contact with the ground will be a problem with
the
>solid urethane tire approach, I suspect.
>
>This seems to be a "semi-solid wheel". I'd suggest approaching higher
speeds
>in small steps as handling problems might show up with these that had not
>been apparent with standard pneumatic tires.
>
>Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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