The 'Bend-over-Sheave' test has proven its relevance in the tire industry since the 1930's, especially on fatigue interply delamination and rubber-fabric & rubber-cord adhesion degradation. The typical cyclic load of tension of the sidewalls or tension- compression of the belt can be achieved by the proper definition of 2-ply laminates bended on a wheel with defined radius and traction force.

The new ecological challenges on rolling resistance, wet grip, noise & mileage life are driving the emergence of alternative rubber, filling and hybrid re-inforcement materials, for wich the overall fatigue behaviour should be tested in the early stage of new tire design.

Modern FEA methods like Abaqus are permitting to define the stress & strain within the tire sidewall & belt re-inforcing layers and to simulate crack initiation & propagation.

By using the same material properties and calculation methods, relevant fatigue test conditions can be defined to early predict the performance of the new materials.

The results obtained show the relevance for this test of the following points :

- non-linear properties of the re-inforcement cord
- the compression of the interply rubber
- interply shear deformation
- free length of the specimen
- clamping method
- specimen manufacturing quality

Also a simplified mathematical model is proposed for rapid estimation of the specimen test conditions.