A Multifunctional Scaled Testbed for Aircraft Tire-Runway Frictional Interactions Evaluation

We present a development of a novel scaled testbed for studying aircraft tire-runway frictional interactions and braking performance under various pavement and wet conditions. The indoor testbed is built on a platform with a rotational arm to support an aircraft tire to travel on a circular, reconfigurable runway track. By designing the braking torque and the rotating arm motion, the testbed possesses the capability to emulate the dynamic characteristics of aircraft tire-runway interactions and braking maneuvers. Besides the mechatronic design of the testbed, we present the modeling and control of the platform subsystems to demonstrate the capability and performance for simulation of braking maneuvers with different pavement grooves and water film thicknesses. The dimensionless analysis and design are presented to represent the equivalent braking processes of a full-size aircraft. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficacy of the testbed design in studying the frictional interactions between the aircraft tire and the runway pavement.