ASTM Highway Equivalent Laboratory Wheel Testing Standards for Commercial Truck/Bus Tires

ASTM Committee F09.30 Task Group on Commercial Truck/Bus Tire Test Development has achieved its goals of developing: 1) “highway equivalency” tire temperature algorithms for laboratory roadwheel testing to replicate road operating temperatures, 2) a standardized laboratory endurance test, and 3) a standardized laboratory high speed test.  These standards are based upon fourteen representative tires from long haul, bus, mixed service, regional, and urban commercial truck applications. Tires for long haul trucks comprise approximately 40% of the USA commercial truck tire market¹, and, because of this dominance, Phase I of the task group’s work focused upon this class of tires.  Approximately 20% of the market is represented by the tires selected for Phase II studies.    These standardized roadwheel tests have been developed utilizing temperature-based “highway equivalency” algorithms.   The algorithms provide guidance on how to modify road operating conditions for use on a roadwheel to mitigate the roadwheel diameter effects.  Such modifications are based primarily upon equivalent belt edge temperatures and secondarily upon tread centerline temperatures and help to avoid atypical test removal conditions.