This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) describes the current process for performing comparative wear testing on aircraft tires in a laboratory environment. This technique is applicable to both radial and bias tires, and is pertinent for all aircraft tire sizes.

This AIR describes a technique based upon “wear” energy. In this technique, side wear energy and drag wear energy are computed as the tire is run through a prescribed test program. The specifics that drive the test setup conditions are discussed in Sections 4 through 7. In general, the technique follows this process:

The described technique is not meant to provide an absolute wear rate or wear index because the technique does not produce results that allow the user to say a tire will last for a specific number of landings. However, it does provide a comparative index. It will make a distinction from one tire design to another by indicating a percentage difference in abrasive wear rate under representative operational conditions. The technique has been demonstrated in a number of test programs and is shown to have an extremely high correlation to field data. Supporting data is included in Section 9.