The United States Antarctic Program (USAP) anticipates replacing the light-truck fleet in the next 25 years and requested a detailed look at the potential tires to be used for ice-shelf work. The USAP fleet management team has worked to reduce the curb weight of potential truck options in an effort to minimize the impact on the snow roads. With current Ford F-350 pickups weighing in at 7840 lb empty and a ground pressure of approximately 17 psi, selecting a lighter truck frame would present major advantages. Similarly, operating the current Mattracks (track system in lieu of tires) installed on some of on the light-truck fleet has run between $35 and $50 an hour over the past 6 years, costing the USAP program as much as $40,000 per season per vehicle. A light truck on tires, for comparison, operated at $6 per hour at McMurdo Station over the same time span.Following testing of nine different types of tires, this report concludes that a suitable tire replacement for the light-truck fleet is commercially available. The BFGoodrich K2, particularly in the Light Truck 32.8 in. (nominally 33 in.) diameter size (BFG LT33), shows significant advantages at all sizes in this tread pattern.
Snow-Road Light-Truck Tire Testing
2020
47 pages
Report
No indication
English
Snow, Ice, & Permafrost , Transportation , Snow roads , Tires , Test and evaluation , Cold regions , Logistics , Antarctica , Weight reduction , Pressure , Loads (forces) , Cold weather engineering , Epolar (engineering for polar operations logistics and research) , Mcmurdo station (antarctica) , Nsf (national science foundation) , Snow mechanics , Truck tires , Tire testing , Usap (united states antarctic program) , Ground contact pressure , Tire loads , Contact area , Internal tire pressure , Tire (terrain interaction research equipment)
PASSENGER CAR AND LIGHT TRUCK TIRE DYNAMIC DRIVING TRACTION IN SNOW
SAE Technical Papers | 1985
Passenger Car and Light Truck Tire Dynamic Driving Traction in Snow
SAE Technical Papers | 2001