European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ejmsol

Static and dynamic mechanical characteristics of honeycomb

non-pneumatic tire under structural damage condition
Yaoji Deng a, *, Zhiyue Wang a, Tao Liu a, Wenrong Liang a, Hui Shen a, Zhen Xiao b
a
College of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225127, China
b
Prinx ChengShan Tire Co., Ltd., Weihai, 264200, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Non-pneumatic tires overcome the hidden dangers of puncturing, deflating and bursting of conventional
Non-pneumatic tire pneumatic tires, and improve the driving safety and mobility of vehicles. However, due to stress concentration,
Structural damage variable load and impact, the critical components of non-pneumatic tires may still fail. In this paper, the in­
Mechanical characteristic
fluence of local damage on the static and dynamic characteristics of the honeycomb non-pneumatic tire was
Finite element method
Health monitoring
studied by using the finite element method. Firstly, according to the working principle and structural charac­
teristics of the honeycomb tire, the finite element model of the tire was established, and its static characteristics
in good condition state were analyzed. Then, the failure mode and danger area of the honeycomb tire were
discussed, and the vulnerable parts of the honeycomb tire were determined. Finally, the static and dynamic
characteristics of the honeycomb non-pneumatic tire in local damage conditions were simulated. The tire stiff­
ness, grounding pressure, and vibration characteristics with different damage degrees were analyzed qualita­
tively. The results show that the spoke damage has different effects on the static and dynamic characteristics of
non-pneumatic tires, including vertical stiffness, ground pressure and natural frequency. The research results
provide a basis for structural design and optimization, health monitoring, and fault diagnosis of the non-
pneumatic tire.

1. Introduction
The tire is the only part of the vehicle that contacts the ground. The
interface formed by the interaction between the tire and the ground
provides the force and torque required by vehicle movement. Therefore,
the tire is essential for the vehicle’s dynamic performance, handling
stability, and safety. After decades of development, tires have made
significant progress in materials, structures, processes, and mechanical
characteristics. However, tires are still a “passive” component of the
whole vehicle. During the driving process, the deformation of tires, the
actual force conditions, and the relationship between tires and roads are
unknown. Although there are commercial products of Tire Pressure
Monitoring System (TPMS) at present, there is still colossal research
space and development prospects on how to turn a tire into an “active”
component, that is, the intelligent tire (Lee and Lee, 2017; Garcia-Po­
zuelo et al., 2017; Xu et al., 2022). From the perspective of the whole
vehicle, the concept of the intelligent tire system has been born from the
requirements of how to give early warning to the tire or road conditions,
how to achieve the optimal vehicle control strategy, and the safety of
vehicles under emergency conditions (Yang et al., 2022; Jeong et al.,
2021; Matsuzaki and Todoroki, 2008). The intelligent tire system
monitors the dynamic data information, such as tire pressure, temper­
ature, force, wear, etc., by installing sensors inside the tire to improve
the reliability of the tire itself. At the same time, this information will be
transmitted to the vehicle monitoring and control system to ensure the
vehicle’s driving safety (Garcia-Pozueloa et al., 2019; Zhu et al., 2019;
Xu et al., 2021).
With the improvement of the popularity of vehicles, the diversifi­
cation of the use environment, the rise of the requirements for driving
comfort, and the integration of the concept of environmental protection,
people’s requirements for tire structure design are becoming higher and
higher. Although pneumatic tires have excellent driving stability and
shock absorption, they usually cause serious traffic accidents due to tire
blowouts, air leakage, and other problems. Especially in harsh envi­
ronments such as the military and mining, pneumatic tires usually can
not withstand severe impact and rugged road surfaces, thus affecting the
use performance of vehicles (Deng et al., 2018, 2021; Wang et al., 2019;
Fu et al., 2022). Major tire manufacturers and research institutes have

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yjdeng@yzu.edu.cn (Y. Deng).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euromechsol.2023.105120
Received 6 May 2023; Received in revised form 17 August 2023; Accepted 27 August 2023
Available online 30 August 2023
0997-7538/© 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Y. Deng et al.
gradually increased their investment in the research and development of
safety tires to improve or overcome the shortcomings of traditional
pneumatic tires. Safe tire technology refers to various comprehensive
technologies developed to improve or eliminate tire failure. At present,
it is developing along two technical routes. One is to improve the safety
performance of pneumatic tires. The other is to use a non-pneumatic
structural design to eliminate the hidden danger of tire blowout.
Based on not changing the basic structure and performance of the
pneumatic tire, the main technical measures taken to improve the safety
performance of the tire can be summarized into two types. Make the
punctured tire not leak or leak slowly, and use a supporting structure to
maintain the driving contour of the tire when tire pressure is zero.
However, due to the shortcomings of tire pressure maintenance, weight,
and complex processing procedures, pneumatic safety tires can only be
used as an emergency safety measure. Therefore, the non-pneumatic tire
safety wheel has become an inevitable development trend (Lee et al.,
2012; Dhrangdhariya et al., 2021; Nyaaba et al., 2019).
In the past ten years, Michelin, Bridgestone, Gupt, and Madison
Polymer Research Center have proposed several non-pneumatic tire
concept products, including Tweel, Air Free Concept, and honeycomb
tires. The bionic honeycomb tire has received extensive attention due to
its excellent mechanical characteristics. Many researchers have made
analyses and designs for the structure of honeycomb tires. Jin et al.
(2018) studied the influence of cellular structure parameters of the
honeycomb tire on mechanical characteristics. The results showed that
the expansion angle of the cells was in direct and inverse proportion to
the tire’s load-carrying capacity. Z. Zheng et al. (2022a) studied the
cornering stiffness characteristics of honeycomb tires with different cell
expansion angles. They found that the geometric and material charac­
teristics of the shear layer influence the cornering stiffness of the hon­
eycomb tire. Ju et al. (2012) found that spokes with larger cell expansion
angles have lower local stress and mass under the same load, which is
conducive to anti-fatigue spokes design. Zang et al. (2021) compared the
change rules of displacement, radial stiffness, and pressure at the contact
point of the non-pneumatic tire with hexagonal honeycomb and circular
honeycomb. When the density is small, the radial stiffness of circular
honeycomb spokes is larger, but the density is increased. Hexagonal
honeycomb spokes will exceed this advantage.
The researchers have also established a specific foundation for the
relevant research on the mechanical characteristics of honeycomb tires.
G. Papageorgiou et al. (Ganniari-Papageorgiou et al., 2020a) analyzed
the honeycomb tire’s maximum stress, contact pressure, and vertical
displacement through the parametric finite element model. The results
show that the greater the cell wall thickness and cell density of the
spokes, the greater the vertical stiffness of the honeycomb tire. When the
cell wall length and cell expansion angle increase, the vertical stiffness of
the honeycomb tire decreases. The grounding pressure can be signifi­
cantly reduced by reasonably adjusting the thickness and length of the
cell wall. The research of K. Kim et al. (2013) shows that the honeycomb
structure in the grounding area has more excellent resistance due to
compression at the initial deformation stage of the honeycomb tire. With
the increase in load, the honeycomb wall buckles, resulting in a decrease
in vertical stiffness. Ganniari (Ganniari-Papageorgiou et al., 2020b)
studied the maximum stress, contact pressure, maximum vertical
displacement, and absorbed energy during loading through a parametric
finite element model. The research shows that the density, thickness,
and internal angle of the honeycomb structure greatly influence the
vertical stiffness. A. M. Aboul Yazid et al. (Aboul-Yazid1 et al., 2015)
found that the Tweel tire has lower rolling resistance compared with the
honeycomb tire. K. KIM et al. (Kim and Kim, 2011) of Korea Aviation
University studied the grounding characteristics of the honeycomb tire
through numerical simulation. They analyzed the influence of honey­
comb structure angle, spoke stiffness, and other factors on the grounding
pressure of the honeycomb tire. The results show that the contact
pressure of the honeycomb tire with the same load capacity is lower than
that of the conventional pneumatic tire. Due to the high lateral stiffness
2
European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120
of the honeycomb tire, its grounding trace is approximately rectangular,
while that of the pneumatic tire is approximately circular. G. C. Umesh
et al. (Umesh and Student, 2016) analyzed the stress and deformation of
the honeycomb tire. It has proved its excellent durability and fatigue
resistance.
In recent years, the vibration problem of the honeycomb tire has also
received extensive attention. L. H. Yam (Yam et al., 2000) and others
conducted an experimental mode analysis on a tire. They extracted the
tire’s radial, tangential, and transverse mode parameters under radial
and tangential excitation. Furthermore, they obtained the
three-dimensional mode shape of tire vibration. Z. Zheng et al. (2022b)
studied the mode characteristics of three honeycomb tires with different
cell expansion angles under a given load. The results show that the
initial elastic modulus, the honeycomb cell wall thickness, and the
spokes design parameters have significant effects on the natural fre­
quency of honeycomb tires. Compared with the initial elastic modulus,
the thickness of the tread and core layer has a more significant influence
on the mode characteristics of honeycomb tires. S. P. Jung et al. (2019)
analyzed the structure and vibration of the honeycomb tire and
straight-spoke non-pneumatic tire by comparison. The results show that
the vertical stiffness and vibration characteristics of the straight-spoke
non-pneumatic tire are better than those of the honeycomb tire. By
comparing the models before and after the insulator is inserted into the
straight spoke, they proved that the insulator could reduce vibration
amplitude without affecting the amplitude of natural frequency.
Although researchers have done much research on the mechanical
characteristics of honeycomb tires, however, these studies only aim at
the structural and mechanical analysis of honeycomb tires in a healthy
state. Research on the mechanical characteristics of honeycomb tires
under local damage is scarce. Although the honeycomb tire can avoid
the risk of tire burst, it may still be damaged due to the influence of
alternating stress, impact load, high temperature, and other factors
during the driving process. The damage will influence the performance
of the non-pneumatic tire and the vehicle’s dynamic performance.
Therefore, it is significant to study the mechanical characteristics of
honeycomb tires under damage conditions for vehicle safety control. At
the same time, the development of intelligent non-pneumatic tire health
monitoring and fault diagnosis technology also requires us to under­
stand the dynamic response of the damaged non-pneumatic tire.
2. Structure and mechanism of the non-pneumatic tire
Unlike the traditional pneumatic tire, the structure of the non-
pneumatic tire is greatly simplified due to the non-pneumatic design.
The non-pneumatic tire discards the inflation pressure and adopts the
tire and rim integration design. This design also makes its load bearing
and vibration mechanism different from the current mainstream radial
tire.
2.1. Structure of the non-pneumatic tire
The non-pneumatic tire mainly comprises tread, outer ring, shear
band, inner ring, spoke, rim, etc. Its structure is shown in Fig. 1(a).
According to the literature (Jin et al., 2018), the model is established.
The diameter and section width of the non-pneumatic tire are 664 and
215 mm, respectively (according to the national standard, GBT
2977–2008). The hub size parameter is 225/65R17. The thickness of the
outer ring, inner ring, shear band, and spoke are 1, 1, 9, and 90.97 mm,
respectively. The sandwich structure composed of the inner ring, outer
ring and shear band is collectively referred to as the shear layer, which is
the critical load-bearing component of the non-pneumatic tire. When the
non-pneumatic tire rolls on the ground, it can realize the double shock
absorption excited by the road roughness through the elastic deforma­
tion of the outer and inner rings. Fig. 1(b) describes the hexagonal
honeycomb structure of the spokes. These regular hexagonal honey­
comb spokes are conducive to the uniform distribution of the tire ground
Y. Deng et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

Fig. 1. Honeycomb tire(a); primary element of honeycomb spoke (b); structural parameters of the hexagonal honeycomb (c).

pressure, the improvement of the load-carrying capacity, and the where v1 is the Poisson’s ratio in the X-axis direction; v2 is the Poisson’s
reduction of the rolling resistance. The spoke geometry and material ratio in the Y-axis direction.
greatly influence the mechanical characteristics of honeycomb struc­ The density of the honeycomb structure ρ is estimated by the density
tures. θ (Angle between the inclined wall and vertical axis) and t/l (ratio of cell wall ρs and cell geometric parameters h、θ、t/l:
of thickness to length) are important geometric indicators reflecting the
t (h/l + 2)
performance of honeycomb structures and are also the parameters most ρ = ρs (4)
l 2 cos θ(h/l + sin θ)
easily affected by the damage. According to the honeycomb material
theory (Gibson et al., 1982; Fu et al., 2017), the relationship between the
horizontal length and inclined length of the cell wall and the included 2.2. Vibration mechanism and load-bearing mechanism of non-pneumatic
angle of the cell wall, the inner diameter of the inner ring, and the outer tires
diameter of the rim (Fig. 1(c)) are as follows:
As a complex dynamic system, research on the mechanism of tire
⎧∑
⎨
4
load and vibration has a long history. Fig. 2 shows two load-bearing
li cos θi = R1 − R2
(1) modes of tires, top load-bearing (Fig. 2(a)) and bottom load-bearing
⎩ i=1
h3 + (h2 + h4 )/2 + l2 sin θ2 + l3 sin θ3 ≈ (R1 + R2 )π/N (Fig. 2(b)) (Rhyne and Cron, 2006; Deng et al., 2023). Pneumatic
tires, represented by radial tires, and some non-pneumatic tires, repre­
where hi is the length of the cell wall at each level; li is the length of each sented by Tweel, adopt the form of top load-bearing. It is a form in which
inclined cell wall; θi is the angle between the inclined cell wall and the all parts bear the load together and uniformly. All the spokes in the tire
vertical line; R1 is the inner diameter of the inner ring; R2 is the outer bear the force except the area in contact with the ground. The vector of
diameter of the rim. spoke tension is the same as the load. The tensioned spoke is a typical
The effective elastic modulus and shear modulus of the honeycomb structure with the top load bearing. This method has uniform stress and
tire in the plane within the linear region are obtained by the following strong bearing capacity.
formula: However, rigid tires, such as honeycomb tires, adopt the way of
⎧ bottom-loading. These tires compress the hub to make it contact the
⎪
⎪ t3 cos θ ground and bear the load through the grounding area. In any case, only
⎪
⎪ Ex = Es 3
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
l (h/l + sin θ)sin2 θ this area in contact with the ground bears the pressure, while other parts
⎪
⎨
t3 (h/l + sin θ) are not subject to the force. They have good stiffness, but the force is less
Ey = E s 3 (2) uniform than the top load. Compared with pneumatic and solid rubber
⎪
⎪ l cos3 θ
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ tires, non-pneumatic tires have apparent advantages in stability, load
⎪ t3 (h/l + sin θ)
⎪
⎪
⎩ Gxy = Es 3 capacity, etc. At the same time, due to the non-pneumatic design, the
l (h/l)2 (2h/l + 1)cos θ
common risk factors of pneumatic tires, such as puncture deflation and
tire burst, can also be solved.
where Ex is the effective modulus of elasticity in the X-axis direction; Ey
Tire vibration can be divided into two types: externally excited vi­
is the effective modulus of elasticity in the Y-axis direction; Exy is the
bration, and self-excited vibration. The externally excited vibration of
effective shear modulus in the plane; Es is Young’s modulus of cell wall
tires refers to the vibration caused by external road surface character­
material; t is the thickness of cell wall; h is the average length of the
istics such as road roughness, road roughness, and road slope. During the
horizontal cell wall; l is the average length of the inclined cell wall; θ is
use of tires, the unevenness of the road surface is the primary source of
the average angle between the inclined cell wall and the vertical line;
external excitation. Its vibration mode is very similar to the tire after
The following formula obtains Poisson’s ratio v of the honeycomb
being hammered in the test. The self-excited vibration of tires refers to
structure:
the vibration form caused by their non-uniformity. Uneven tire refers to
⎧
⎪
⎪ cos2 θ the varying geometric size, rigidity and, quality of tires due to the
⎪
⎨ v1 = (h/l + sin θ)sin θ interaction of many factors, such as an eccentric bead, excessive or
(3) irregular overlapping connection, and uneven vulcanization, in the
⎪
⎪ (h/l + sin θ)sin θ
⎪
⎩ v2 = production process of tires. It is found that the tire is the convergence
cos2 θ
point of vibration sources after ignoring the vibration of the engine and
transmission system. It primarily buffs road impact, vehicle imbalance

3
Y. Deng et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

Fig. 2. Load-bearing modes of tires:(a) top load-bearing; (b) bottom load-bearing.

and uneven tires. Therefore, it is essential to study the vibration char­
acteristics of tires. The tire will transmit vibration in radial, circumfer­
ential and lateral directions, but there are different rules in each
direction. The radial vibration of the tire occurs in the middle and high-
frequency range. Moreover, with the tire’s radial stiffness increase, the
radial vibration also increases significantly. These vibrations are trans­
mitted to the axle and further to the body. It will lead to changes in the
vertical force response, adversely affecting the vehicle’s movement.
Therefore, radial stiffness is the most critical parameter affecting radial
vibration.
3. Finite element modeling of the non-pneumatic tire with
honeycomb spokes
This section introduces the finite element modeling process of the
non-pneumatic tire with honeycomb spokes. The influence of damage on
the mechanical characteristics of the non-pneumatic tire was analyzed
using a finite element model. This chapter mainly includes the con­
struction of a grid system, the definition of material parameters, the
setting of the solver, the construction of connection relationships, and
the setting of boundary conditions.
Structured is used to apply standard grid modes to some geometric areas
with simple shapes. The structured grid areas are displayed in green.
Free is the most flexible mesh generation technology, which can be used
for almost any shape, but the quality of the generated mesh may not be
ideal. This paper adopts sweep grid generation technology. Sweep can
create a mesh on the face of a three-bit geometric model and then
extrude it along the sweep path to obtain a 3D mesh. This technology can
meet the grid generation requirements of simple components such as
tread and enable complex structures such as spokes to generate high-
quality grids. When used in almost incompressible materials, the 8-
node 6-faceted linear fully integrated unit (C3D8) will show an unde­
sirable shear locking phenomenon, resulting in potential numerical
instability. Therefore, the reduced integral unit (C3D8RH) represents
the tread, shear layer, and spoke. In this way, even under the condition
of large deformation, shear self-locking is challenging to occur. More­
over, when the mesh is distorted, the accuracy of the analysis can still be
maintained. The S4R unit is used to describe the rim as a rigid element.
The number of model elements is 3497, and the number of nodes is
58,632. A simplified finite element model of the honeycomb tire is ob­
tained, as shown in Fig. 3.
Mesh generation decomposes the model of the non-pneumatic tire

3.1. Model establishment and grid division

Establish the honeycomb tire model described in 2.1 above in the

engineering finite element software ABAQUS. On the premise of not
affecting the research objective and calculation accuracy, the original
model of the honeycomb tire is appropriately simplified.

(1) Ignore the friction of contact or connection parts of each

component;
(2) Neglecting the influence of temperature on tire material during
rolling;
(3) Neglecting the influence of tread pattern on the dynamic and
static characteristics of the honeycomb tire;
(4) Set honeycomb spokes as shells and rims as rigid bodies;
(5) Assuming material characteristics are isotropic and the tire is
completely symmetrical to the center.

In the finite element model, mesh generation is one of the critical

links. The quality of mesh generation directly affects the efficiency,
accuracy and convergence speed of finite element calculation. ABAQUS
provides three grid generation technologies: structured, sweep and free. Fig. 3. Finite element model of the non-pneumatic tire.

4
Y. Deng et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

into many elements. When the tire is loaded, its role will be distributed effective range of the test. To ensure the accuracy of the measurement,
to these units. The effects of these elements are analyzed as a whole to the measuring position is far away from the clamping part. The loading
obtain the simulation results. It is an idealized mathematical abstraction speed of the tensile testing machine is set to 450 mm/min, and the test
of a real system, which can simplify complex geometric shapes, material ambient temperature is controlled at 23 ◦ C ± 2 ◦ C. The test process is
characteristics, and boundary conditions. shown in Fig. 4(a). After the test, the rubber test data are processed to
obtain the stress-strain data of rubber material specimen, and the
3.2. Material characteristics and constitutive models parameter identification is carried out according to equation (7), and the
parameters of Ogden constitutive model are obtained. Three groups of
According to the literature (Jin et al., 2018; Zheng et al., 2021, tests are carried out, and the three groups of data are averaged to obtain
2022a), the material characteristics of honeycomb tire components are the fitting results of model parameters.
shown in Table 1. The rim and road surface are set as rigid materials. The
rim is made of AL7075-T6 aluminium alloy, and the ring is made of AISI
3.3. Numerical methods and boundary conditions
4340 alloy steel. Polyurethane not only has an elasticity similar to
rubber material but also can maintain certain strength. It defines the
Set the contact conditions and boundary conditions of honeycomb
shear band and honeycomb spokes, while rubber material is used for the
tires. Define rigid body constraints for rims and pavements. Bind the rim,
tread. ABAQUS provides a variety of constitutive models to fit the
spokes, rings, shear band, and tread individually through binding con­
changes in the stress-strain relationship of materials accurately.
straints. The rim’s inner surface and the tire’s center are defined as rigid
The Ogden model is described by the strain energy density function,
motion coupling constraints. Apply a vertical downward concentrated
which is based on the principal elongation of the left Cauchy Green
load on the central reference point. Release the displacement in the Y-
strain tensor, in the following form:
axis direction of the tire and constrain the remaining degrees of freedom.
∑
N
μ Thus, the loading state of a single honeycomb tire is simulated.
W= i
(λ1 − αi
+ λ2 − αi
+ λ3 − αi
− 3) (5) Create a surface contact between the road surface and the outer
αi
surface of the tread, and select the surface contact as the contact type.
i=1

where W is the strain energy function; N is the model order, usually The interaction between contact surfaces consists of two parts: one is the
between 1 and 3; λi is the principal deviation elongation; μi and αi is the normal action of the contact surface, and the other is the tangential
material coefficient that defines the material’s mechanical action of the contact surface. Set the normal contact attribute to hard
characteristics. contact. In ABAQUS, surface contact is divided into hard contact and soft
Mooney-Rivlin model is a classical model in the field of rubber me­ contact, and whether two surfaces are in contact is judged based on
chanics. The elastic strain energy of its two parameters has the following whether the gap between two surfaces is zero. When the gap between
forms: two surfaces becomes zero, it is considered that the two surfaces have
contacted, and contact constraints are imposed on the corresponding
W = C10 (I 1 − 3) + C01 (I 2 − 3) +
1
(J − 1)2 (6) nodes. When contact occurs between two surfaces, there will be residual
D1 contact pressure between the contact surfaces. There is no limit to the
amount of contact pressure that can be transmitted between two contact
where 1 is the first deviatoric strain variant; 2 is the second deviatoric
surfaces. When the contact pressure between the contact surfaces be­
strain variant; J is the elastic volume ratio; C10, C01, and D1 are the
comes zero or negative, the two contact surfaces are separated, and the
material coefficients that define the mechanical characteristics of
contact constraint on the corresponding node is released.
materials.
The classical coulomb friction is used to calculate the friction be­
Neo-Hookan model is the simplest model, and its expression is:
tween contact surfaces. When calculating, friction is the maximum shear
1 stress allowed to slip between contact interfaces, as shown in Formula
W = C10 (I 1 − 3) + (J − 1)2 (7)
D1 (8). According to different values of friction coefficient and different
application scenarios, it can also be divided into four types of contact
The Ogden model can be widely used in various types of hyperelastic
behaviours: penalty function, static and dynamic attenuation coeffi­
constitutive relations. It has good simulation ability in the whole strain
cient, roughness, and Lagrangian multiplier method. The definition of
range of rubber. This model is suitable for dealing with large strain
the penalty function is selected in this paper.
problems and can describe the behaviour of materials with unsteady
shear modulus and slight compression. Therefore, this paper selects the τcrit = μρ (8)
Ogden model to define polyurethane and rubber materials. The material
constants can be determined by fitting the axial tensile test data. where τcrit is the critical shear stress; μ is the coefficient of friction; ρ
The dumbbell test piece of rubber prepared is shown in Fig. 4(b), and contact stress or contact pressure at the contact point.
the thickness of the test piece is 2 mm. The sample is fixed within the
4. Result analysis and discussion
Table 1
Material parameters of the non-pneumatic tire. As a critical component of non-pneumatic tire, honeycomb structure
Components Materials Density Young’s Material Poisson’s plays a vital role in buffering and bearing. According to the honeycomb
(kg/m3) modulus coefficients ratio theory, the state of the spokes directly affects the key performance index
(Mpa) of the honeycomb structure, namely the included angle θ Ratio of
Tread Rubber 1043 μ1 = 0.49 thickness to length t/l. Therefore, this paper fully considers the damage
16.358 conditions of different cases and studies the mechanical characteristics
α1 = 1.633 of honeycomb tires under damage conditions. In this paper, the me­
D1 = 0
chanical characteristics of the honeycomb tire in good condition are
Shear band Polyurethane 1200 μ1 = 0.49
& spoke 17.906 studied first. Then the influence of spokes damage at different positions
αl = 1.513 on the mechanical characteristics of the honeycomb tire was analyzed.
D1 = 0 Finally, the number of damage is expanded to study the influence of
Hub AL7075-T6 2800 72,000 0.33 damage degree on the honeycomb tire’s static mechanical characteris­
ring AISI 4340 7800 210,000 0.29
tics and vibration modes.

5
Y. Deng et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

Fig. 4. Uniaxial tensile test of rubber material: (a) uniaxial tensile test of rubber material; (b) geometry of rubber test piece.

4.1. Effect of spokes damage on static characteristics of the honeycomb
tire
The vertical force acting on the tire plays a vital role in vehicle ride
comfort, handling stability, and safety. Therefore, the research on static
characteristics of tires is the basis of vehicle performance research. Many
studies have shown that non-pneumatic tires also have excellent statics.
However, few studies have focused on the performance of non-
pneumatic tires under damage. This chapter compares the static char­
acteristics of the honeycomb tire in intact condition and after the spokes
are broken and damaged.
4.1.1. Static characteristics of the honeycomb tire in good condition
The static characteristics of the honeycomb tire in good condition are
the primary data for comparing the characteristics after damage. The
effectiveness of the developed finite element model was verified by
comparing it with the existing data reported in reference (Jin et al.,
2018). Under the action of 2 kN vertical load, the deformation mode of
the honeycomb tire and the stress distribution diagram of each
component are shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen from Fig. 5 that under the
load of 2 kN, the deformation of the honeycomb tire mainly occurs on
the spokes. Honeycomb spokes bend at the contact edge, and the pri­
mary compression load is mainly radial. The upper part of the cell wall is
mainly affected by tension, while the lower part is mainly affected by
pressure. The elastic expansion of the spokes can be clearly observed in

Fig. 5. Stress distribution of honeycomb tire under 2 kN vertical load.

6
Y. Deng et al.
the deformation diagram. When the honeycomb tire is loaded, its stress
is mainly distributed in the grounding area. This result is consistent with
the load-bearing mechanism of the honeycomb tire.
Apply 1 kN, 2 kN, 3 kN, 4 kN, and 5 kN vertical loads at the rim
center’s reference point. Through finite element analysis, the static
characteristics of each component of the undamaged honeycomb tire
under different loads are shown in Fig. 6. The results show that the load
greatly influences the static characteristics of the honeycomb tire. With
the load increase, the displacement of the rim center, the grounding
pressure and the stress of each component of the honeycomb tire in­
crease linearly. Among them, the central displacement of the spoke rim,
and the shear layer stress showed the most significant increase. The
rim’s central displacement mainly reflects the spokes’ compression
deformation. The shear layer has good strength and stiffness, which
plays a vital role in the load-carrying performance of the honeycomb
tire. Fig. 6(d) shows that the stress in the shear layer increases signifi­
cantly with the load increase. When the load reaches 5 kN, the maximum
stress of the shear layer is 236.6Mpa. Compared with the maximum
stress at 1 kN, it increases by 466.8%.
The rim center displacement is mainly the result of the radial
deformation of the spokes. Spokes are the core part of the non-
pneumatic tire, which is different from the traditional pneumatic tire,
and it is also an important part to provide support and buffer for the non-
pneumatic tire. The spokes of the honeycomb tire are made of
Fig. 6. The static characteristics of the honeycomb tire under different loads: (a) maximum grounding pressure under different vertical loads; (b) rim center
displacement under different vertical loads; (c) maximum stress of spokes and the tread under different vertical loads; (d) maximum stress of the shear layer under
different vertical loads.
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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120
polyurethane. Polyurethane has good stability, chemical resistance,
elasticity, hardness and less compression deformation. However, the
internal heat of this material is large, and it is not resistant to high-
frequency vibration or high-temperature environments. However,
automobile tires are subject to cyclic stress for a long time, and poly­
urethane spokes are directly exposed to the outside. Hence, spokes in
this working environment are more likely to be damaged. Structurally,
although honeycomb spokes have good bearing capacity, the connection
between cell walls is not smooth, and there is stress concentration at the
junction between cell walls. Moreover, due to its vertical layout and
small thickness, spokes deform greatly when loading. Fig. 6(b) shows
that the displacement of the rim center increases significantly with the
load increase. When the load reaches 5 kN, the rim center sinks 14.6874
mm. Compared with the displacement at 1 kN, the displacement in­
creases by 487.0%. Moreover, under the action of 1 kN, 2 kN, 3 kN, 4 kN
and 5 kN loads, the maximum stresses of spokes are 1.518Mpa,
2.422Mpa, 3.436Mpa, 3.981Mpa and 4.666Mpa respectively. With the
load increase, the stress of the spokes in the grounding area also in­
creases significantly. Therefore, the cell wall fracture of spokes in the
grounding area is critical when analyzing the honeycomb tire in
damaged conditions.
Y. Deng et al.
4.1.2. Effect of spokes damage location on static characteristics of the
honeycomb tire
In the running process of the tire, the damage may occur at different
positions in the circumferential direction. The cell wall fracture at
different positions will affect the static characteristics of the non-
pneumatic tire. In this paper, the mechanical characteristics of the
honeycomb tire with cell wall fracture at different locations were
compared by finite element analysis. Based on the assumption that the
honeycomb tire is entirely symmetrical to the tire center, the mechanical
characteristics of the honeycomb tire with damaged spokes on one side
of the tire are analyzed. In the finite analysis, the cell wall in the existing
model is removed to simulate the damage state. Fig. 7 shows the damage
location of the honeycomb tire. First, five locations of cell wall damage
were selected at intervals of 45◦ on the left circumference of the hon­
eycomb tire to study the circumferential damage. Then analyze the
damage to different cell walls in the grounded honeycomb unit. Finally,
the damage of the spoke in the grounding area is aggravated, and six
cases of multi-cell wall fractures are designed.
Fig. 8 compares the static characteristics of the honeycomb tire with
spokes damaged at the circumferential position under 2 kN vertical load.
The results showed that the damage to the cell wall at the selected
circumferential position mainly resulted in the sudden increase of the
stress of the shear layer. The shear layer comprises the outer ring, the
shear band, and the inner ring. It is the primary skeleton material of the
non-pneumatic tire and the most stressed part. The shear layer has high
strength and fatigue resistance and is embedded in the tread rubber, so it
is not easy to be damaged. With the change of the circumferential
damage position of the cell wall, the rim center subsidence increased
first and then decreased slightly. The tread ground pressure fluctuates
slightly. The maximum stress of the tread at 90◦ and 135◦ will slightly
decrease after the cell wall breaks. The maximum stress of the spokes
decreases significantly after the cell wall breaks at 0◦ . The honeycomb
cell at 0◦ is located in the grounding area of the tire and plays a signif­
icant role in carrying the load. The rupture of the cell wall here destroys
the original load-bearing form of the tire. The nearby cellular cells can
share the load-bearing function. Due to the participation of more units,
the maximum stress of spokes has been relieved to some extent.
According to the load-bearing mechanism, the grounding area is the
main load-bearing part of the honeycomb tire and the critical area of
static research. In the grounding area, compared with the tread and
shear layer, the honeycomb spokes have a smaller grounding area, lower
Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of circumferential and unit damage of the honey­
comb tire.
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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120
thickness and more significant deformation. At the junction between cell
walls, there is a phenomenon of stress concentration. Moreover, with the
increase in load, the stress on the honeycomb spokes rises sharply.
Therefore, compared with other circumferential positions, the honey­
comb spokes at the grounding area (0◦ ) are more vulnerable to damage.
Therefore, the honeycomb spokes in this area are further analyzed.
Consider the cell wall injury at different positions in the honeycomb
cell in the grounding area. Apply a concentrated load of 2 kN to the
honeycomb tire, and break the cell wall at different positions from top to
bottom. The stress distribution of the damaged spokes is shown in Fig. 9.
Compared with the stress distribution of the honeycomb spoke in good
condition, after the cell wall at different positions is damaged, there is
still stress concentration at the junction of the upper and bottom cell
walls. This is related to the bearing form of the honeycomb structure.
When subjected to vertical load, the cell walls at the upper and lower
ends mainly play the role of bearing through deformation. In the middle
layer, the angle between cell walls is larger, and the stress distribution is
more uniform, mainly acting as a buffer load. Compared with other
situations, the maximum stress of honeycomb spokes is 2.161 MPa after
the cell wall in contact with the rim on the upper layer breaks. The
minimum value of the maximum stress occurs after the cell wall at the
bottom parallel to the ground is damaged. The size difference before the
maximum and minimum value is not apparent. It can be seen that the
fracture of a single cell wall has little impact on the overall tire.
Therefore, it is necessary to fully consider the situation of multiple cell
wall fractures in the grounding area and appropriately increase the load
to analyze the static performance of honeycomb tires.
4.1.3. Effect of spokes damage on static characteristics of the honeycomb
tire
The above research shows that cell wall damage has a certain impact
on the static characteristics of the honeycomb tire. Based on the previous
research, this section analyzes the influence of the increased damage of
spokes on the static characteristics of honeycomb tires. At the grounding
area, the maximum stress of spokes is relatively greater after the upper
cell wall in contact with the rim is damaged. Therefore, the fracture of
multiple upper cell walls in contact with the rim shall be considered first.
Moreover, it is found in the operation of non-pneumatic tires. When the
cell wall of a certain part of the spoke cracks or breaks, the damage will
spread around it with the vehicle’s running. And this diffusion has
certain randomness. Therefore, based on the results of finite element
analysis and the actual situation of tire operation, six types of cell wall
fractures in the grounding area are designed, as shown in Fig. 10. In case
1, the upper left cell wall designed to contact the rim was broken. Case 2
is a special condition of case 1. The upper left spoke in the three hon­
eycomb cells near the grounding area was broken. Based on case 1, case
3 to case 6 continuously expanded the damage degree in the honeycomb
cell at the grounding point until all twelve cell walls were broken.
Apply a concentrated load of 3 kN to the rim center of the honey­
comb tire, and compare the static characteristics of the honeycomb tire
under the above six damage conditions and intact conditions. As shown
in Fig. 11, the cell wall fracture significantly impacts the stiffness of the
honeycomb tire. With the increase of cell wall damage, the radial po­
sition of the honeycomb tire center increases significantly, and the tire
stiffness decreases continuously. Compared with the lower spokes, the
fracture of the upper spokes has a greater impact on the tire stiffness.
When the upper part of the cell wall is completely damaged and broken,
the lower part of the cell wall almost loses its supporting capacity. When
the cell wall of the lower half is intact (case 4), half is broken (case 5),
and all is broken (case 6), the center displacement of the honeycomb tire
rim is − 9.05909 mm, − 9.04411 mm and − 9.06175 mm respectively.
The stiffness of the honeycomb tire is affected by the spokes’ structure,
which results from the joint action of the upper and lower parts of the
cell wall. Therefore, the damage to the cell wall will destroy the sup­
porting structure of the honeycomb cell, resulting in a significant
reduction in its stiffness and bearing capacity. When the upper or lower
Y. Deng et al.
Fig. 8. Under the load of 2 kN, the static mechanical characteristics of the honeycomb tire with circumferential damage: (a) maximum grounding pressure under
circumferential damage; (b) rim center displacement under circumferential damage; (c) maximum stress of spokes and tread under circumferential damage; (d)
maximum stress of shear layer under circumferential damage state.
part of cell wall is completely damaged and broken, the supporting
performance of the honeycomb cell will be lost. Generally, when a cell
wall is damaged, the damage will spread around the cell wall. However,
more special and coincidental situations should also be considered. In
special cases, as shown in case 2 in Fig. 8, when the cell wall in contact
with the rim in multiple honeycomb cells breaks, the load-bearing
structure of multiple honeycomb cells is damaged. At this time, the
subsidence of the rim center increased significantly, and the stiffness of
the honeycomb tire decreased significantly. In the grounding area,
compared with the loss of the cell wall in a single honeycomb cell, the
loss of multiple honeycomb cells has a greater impact on tire stiffness.
Without considering special case 2, compared with the rim center
displacement in good condition, the multi-cell walls damage increases
the subsidence of the rim center displacement by 1.2%–3.4%.
Fig. 12 compares the maximum stress of each component of the
honeycomb tire in good condition and multi-cell wall damage. Com­
bined with the spoke deformation mode in Fig. 10, it can be found that
the cell wall fracture leads to the decrease of spokes stress and a sig­
nificant increase of tread and shear layer stress. Honeycomb spokes bend
at the contact edge, and the compression load is mainly radial. More­
over, the spokes appear elastic expansion, and the stress concentration
appears at the junction position of the cell wall edge. It can be seen from
Fig. 12 that the maximum stress of the spokes under the intact condition
and the above six loss cases is about 3.436, 3.102, 1.872, 2.366, 2.753,
2.185 and 2.345 MPa, respectively. The cell wall damage causes the
shear layer and tread in the damaged area to bear more load, produce
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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120
greater deformation, and their stress increases significantly. This
mechanism can maintain the stress of other intact honeycomb cells but
also requires the strength of the shear layer and tread. With the deep­
ening of the damage depth, the spoke stress decreases and the stress on
the shear layer and tread increases significantly. When the upper part of
the cell wall is completely broken, the performance of the honeycomb
cell is greatly lost and begins to rely mainly on the role of the shear layer
and tread. At this time, even if the deep damage degree of spokes is
continued, the maximum stress of each component of the honeycomb
tire has no apparent change. In the process of cell wall fracture in the
upper part, the stress growth of the shear layer is the largest after the
spokes are damaged. It is an essential component of the honeycomb tire
that can maintain performance after the spokes are damaged. Similarly,
the breakage of cell walls in multiple honeycomb cells has a more sig­
nificant impact than the breakage of multi-cell walls in a single honey­
comb cell. In the special case of case 2, because the structural
performance of multiple honeycomb cells was damaged, the stress on
the spokes was greatly reduced, and the stress in the shear layer was
sharply increased. Without considering case2, multi-cell walls damage
reduces the maximum stress of spokes by 9.7%–36.4%; The maximum
stress of the shear layer increases by 1.6%–3.7%; The maximum stress of
the tread increases by 0.3%–0.6%.
The honeycomb tire mainly bears the load through the grounding
area, so the maximum contact pressure between the tread and the
ground is additionally considered. Fig. 13 shows the pressure distribu­
tion between the tread and the ground in intact condition and with
Y. Deng et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

Fig. 9. Comparison of spokes damage at different positions.

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of multi cell walls damage.

10
Y. Deng et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

multi-cell wall damage. The tread forms an approximately rectangular

area at the ground point. The load greatly affects the rectangular
grounding area and is not significantly affected by the damage degree of
the spokes. With the increase of cell wall fracture, the grounding pres­
sure is not a linear increase or decrease. On the whole, with the aggra­
vation of the damage, the maximum grounding pressure shows an
increasing trend. However, in case 5, although its cell wall breaks more
than in case 4, its maximum grounding pressure is lower. It is because
different forms of cell wall damage will affect the bearing form of the
spokes, thus causing different effects on the pressure distribution. In case
5, the cell wall on the left side was broken, causing the spoke to bend and
deform in the direction of the left side fracture. In case 4, the fracture
mode of the cell wall is more uniform, so the pressure distribution is
relatively gentle, and its numerical range is larger. Compared with the
tread contact pressure in good condition, the tread contact pressure
decreases to a certain extent when the damage is slight. However, with
the deepening of the damage, the tread contact pressure gradually in­
creases. Without considering case 2, the maximum grounding pressure is
reduced by 2.8% at most and increased by 2.3% at most due to multi-cell
wall damage.
The cell wall in contact with the rim is a vulnerable part of the
Fig. 11. Rim center displacement in case of multi-cells wall damage.
honeycomb cell. When the damage occurs, with the tire running, the

Fig. 12. Maximum stress of honeycomb tire components in case of multi-cell walls damage.

Fig. 13. Grounding pressure in case of multi-cell walls damage.

11
Y. Deng et al.
damage on a single cell wall will spread to the cell wall connected to it.
However, this process has a certain randomness, so this paper considers
six cases of cell walls fracture and makes comparisons and discussions.
Compared with the honeycomb tire in good condition, the influence of
cell wall damage on the static mechanical characteristics of the honey­
comb tire is mainly reflected in the reduction of stiffness, the decrease of
the maximum stress of the spokes, the maximum stress of shear layer
increases, and change of tread contact pressure. With the aggravation of
damage, the rim center subsidence decreases by 1.2%–3.4%; The
maximum stress of spokes decreases by 9.7%–36.4%; The maximum
stress of the shear layer increases by 1.6%–3.7%; The maximum stress of
the tread increases by 0.3%–0.6%; The maximum grounding pressure is
reduced by 2.8% at most and increased by 2.3% at most.
4.2. Effect of spokes damage on dynamics characteristics of the
honeycomb tire
The tire bears the combined action of radial force, lateral force,
longitudinal force and other loads during driving. Sharp friction and
instant impact effects between the tire and the ground will cause sudden
changes in tire stress and strain. It causes the tire to vibrate to a certain
extent during driving, affecting the vehicle’s handling stability, driving
safety and ride comfort. Compared with the traditional pneumatic tire,
the non-pneumatic tire with spokes as the support structure, represented
by the honeycomb tire, will produce greater vibration during use. There
are three primary sources of vibration. (1) Vibration caused by buckling
and pulling back of spokes when entering and leaving the grounding
area. (2) Vibration caused by the shear layer. (3) Vibration transmission
between components. The vibration of non-pneumatic tires will signif­
icantly limit vehicle speed. After the spokes of the non-pneumatic tire
are damaged, the uniformity of the supporting structure is broken. This
will also lead to changes in tire vibration, which will have an unpre­
dictable impact on everyday driving. This chapter studies the vibration
characteristics of the honeycomb tire with damaged cell walls.
4.2.1. Vibration characteristics of the honeycomb tire in good condition
The structural geometric and material parameters of the non-
pneumatic tire directly affect the self-vibration parameters of the tire.
In addition, the uneven road surface will also stimulate the elastic vi­
bration of non-pneumatic tires. The vibration characteristics of the non-
pneumatic tire directly reflect its structural and mechanical character­
istics. Mode analysis is a method to study the vibration characteristics of
the non-pneumatic tire. Mode analysis obtains the structure’s natural
frequency, damping ratio and mode shape through calculation or
experimental analysis to understand the dynamic characteristics of the
structure. The vibration of the non-pneumatic tire is very complex, and
its vibration forms can be divided into radial, transverse, and circum­
ferential. The radial mode affects the driving harshness and riding
comfort of non-pneumatic tires during driving. The lateral mode affects
the steering performance of the vehicle. And the circumferential mode
directly affects vehicle slip during driving. The radial mode is the most
important form of tire vibration. Based on the commercial finite element
software ABAQUS, this paper will focus on the radial vibration mode to
study the vibration characteristics of the honeycomb tire.
The essence of finite element mode analysis is to solve the problem of
structural eigenvalue according to the basic principle of the dynamic
response system. The structure’s mass matrix, stiffness matrix and
damping matrix are established by knowing the geometric dimensions,
material characteristics and boundary conditions to solve the eigenvalue
and eigenvector. This way, the natural frequency and mode shape in
mode analysis can be obtained. The basic dynamic equation is:
M ä(t) + Cȧ(t) + Ka(t) = Q(t) (9)
Where M is the mass matrix of the system; C is the damping matrix of the
system; K is the stiffness matrix of the system; ä(t) is the acceleration
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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120
vector of the system node; ȧ(t) is the velocity vector of the system node;
a(t) is the displacement vector of the system node; Q (t) is the excitation
matrix of the system node; t is time.
For the free vibration system, the effect of damping on the structural
vibration is not considered, and there is no load on each node. Equation
(9) can be simplified as:
M ä(t) + Ka(t) = 0 (10)
Equation (10) is the motion equation of the system’s free vibration,
and the honeycomb tire’s free vibration also meets Equation (10). The
essence of analyzing the honeycomb tire’s natural frequency and vi­
bration mode is to solve the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the system
motion matrix. The commercial finite element software ABAQUS pro­
vides three types of solver: AMS solver, Lanczos eigenvalue solver and
subspace iterative solver. The Lanczos solver is the default solver of
ABAQUS software. Lanczos has high accuracy in solving lower mode
steps. Moreover, the solver can customize the number of solutions and
the minimum frequency and maximum frequency range. When studying
the structural response of the system, usually the contribution of high-
step vibration to the response is small, so in practice, high step modes
do not have much physical significance, so it is usually only necessary to
solve a limited number of low step modes. Therefore, the Lanczos
eigenvalue solver is selected to constrain the degree of freedom of the
rim, and the first ten vibration modes of the honeycomb tire are
analyzed.
In order to classify the mode shapes of each step concisely and uni­
formly, the method of parameter representation is used for classifica­
tion. Its expression form is [c, m], where “c" is the number of sine waves
in the circumferential direction of the tire, and “m" is the number of
waves in the radial direction when the circumferential direction of the
tire is at the maximum shape variable. Fig. 14 is an explanatory diagram
of the parameter representation.
The mode of the honeycomb tire is represented by the parameter
representation method as shown in Table 2 below, and its vibration
mode is shown in Fig. 15 below.
Fig. 15 shows the vibration mode of the honeycomb tire in good
condition. Compare the first-order natural frequency with the data from
the reference (Zheng et al., 2022b). The effectiveness of the developed
finite element tire model was verified. The honeycomb tire is symmet­
rical, and the same vibration mode has occurred four times. In order to
avoid being too complicated, the same mode shapes are omitted from
the above mode shapes. The results show that the first ten natural fre­
quencies of the honeycomb tire are between 9 and 65 Hz. Radial vi­
bration modes mainly include staggered and translational modes. The
natural frequency of honeycomb tires increases with the increase of
steps. At the same time, the deformation of tires is becoming increas­
ingly complex. Tread and spokes are the main deformation parts. And
the first ten orders of vibration are mainly characterized by radial
deformation.
4.2.2. Effect of spokes damage on vibration characteristics of the
honeycomb tire
The honeycomb tire has poor vibration characteristics compared to
the traditional pneumatic tire. Furthermore, whether the damaged
honeycomb tire can maintain a certain performance is more worthy of
attention. Many design parameters affect the performance of the hon­
eycomb tire. For example, the number of spokes, cell wall thickness,
tread thickness, shear band structure, etc., may impact the natural fre­
quency of the honeycomb tire. Therefore, it is easy to generate cross-
complexity in research. Spoke is a vital part of the honeycomb tire,
significantly influencing performance. At the same time, due to the
stress concentration at the cell wall junction, the vibration of the spoke
structure and the temperature rise of the material during the rolling
process of the honeycomb tire. These phenomena cause the spoke to be a
relatively easily damaged component. The damage of spokes will have a
significant impact on the vibration characteristics of the honeycomb
Y. Deng et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120

Fig. 14. Illustration of parameter representation.

vibration modes mainly include circumferential, radial, and axial

Table 2
modes. However, the vibration form of the damaged honeycomb tire is
Natural frequencies of the honeycomb tire.
relatively simple, mainly focusing on dislocating the damaged part. With
Steps Parameter representation Frequency (Hz) 1 (single piece) the increase of order, the vibration mode has little change, and there is
2 (multiple pieces)
no complex mode.
1 [0,0] 9.796 1 Based on the above five damage cases, the single variable is the
2 (Yang et al., 2022) 50.063 2
spokes damage degree. The first ten natural frequencies of honeycomb
3 (Yang et al., 2022) 50.076 2
4 (Xu et al., 2022) 52.517 2
tires are extracted for comparative analysis, and the results are shown in
5 (Xu et al., 2022) 52.555 2 Fig. 18. The results show that the damage to the spokes will reduce the
6 (Jeong et al., 2021) 54.084 2 natural frequency of the honeycomb tire. Moreover, with the deepening
7 (Jeong et al., 2021) 54.098 2 of damage, the natural frequency decreases significantly. However, in a
8 (Lee and Lee, 2017) 58.434 1
single curve, the natural frequencies of honeycomb tires increase line­
9 (Lee and Lee, 2017) 58.499 1
10 (Lee and Lee, 2017) 62.628 1 arly with the increase of steps. In all cases, the growth rate of the first
three levels is relatively large, while that of the fourth to seventh steps is
relatively flat. In good condition, the natural frequency of the first ten
tire. Based on the above damage cases, the vibration modes of honey­ steps of the honeycomb tire is 9.796–62.628 Hz. With the expansion of
comb tires with spokes broken by 2.5%, 4.5%, 7.0%, 10%, and 12.4% damage, the natural frequencies of each order decrease continuously.
are studied. The damage cases of honeycomb tire is shown in Fig. 16. When the damage degree reaches 12.4% (case 5), the natural frequency
The vibration mode diagrams of the first three steps of honeycomb of the honeycomb tire is the lowest, between 9.082 and 59.796 Hz. By
tires are compared, as shown in Fig. 17. It can be seen from the figure the calculation, the natural frequency of the first ten steps is reduced by
that the vibration mode diagram of the damaged honeycomb tire is quite 19.37% at most, which occurs in the third step of case 5. When the
different from the intact state. In good condition, the honeycomb tire damage occurs in the same honeycomb cell, its natural frequency curve

Fig. 15. Vibration mode of the honeycomb tire in completed condition.

13
Y. Deng et al.
Fig. 16. Damage diagram.
is close. At this time, with the aggravation of the damage, the natural
frequency of the honeycomb tire decreases slightly. However, when the
damage spreads to other cells, the natural frequency of the honeycomb
tire will drop sharply. It can be seen in the figure that when the damage
expands from 4.5% to 7% (case2, case 3) and from 10% to 12.4% (case 4,
case 5), the drop between curves increases significantly. This result is
consistent with the previous analysis. The research on the rim center
displacement under the condition of multi-cell walls damage in 4.1.3
shows that the honeycomb cells structure greatly affects the overall
stiffness of spokes. The support ability of the honeycomb structure will
be destroyed after the cell wall breaks. When the upper part of the cell
wall is completely damaged and broken, the cellular unit loses its
original function. Therefore, even if the lower half of the cell wall is
broken, the spoke stiffness changes little. In Fig. 18, the amplitude
reduction of natural frequency is slight, and the curve is relatively close.
Therefore, when the damage is extended to multiple honeycomb cells,
Fig. 17. First three vibration modes of honeycomb tires under different damage case.
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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120
the mechanical characteristics of honeycomb tires will be more affected.
The results show that the fracture of the cell walls affects the stiffness
of the honeycomb tire, which reduces the natural frequency. With the
aggravation of the damage, the natural frequency decreases more
significantly, by 19.37% at most. When the damage expands to multiple
honeycomb cells, the natural frequency of the tire drops suddenly. This
situation significantly impacts the tire vibration characteristics and
should be avoided.
5. Conclusion
The automobile is developing towards electronic and intelligent. As
the only part of the vehicle that contacts the ground, the tire is no longer
satisfied with being a passive rubber complex on the vehicle but a part of
the vehicle control system. The intelligent tire can achieve automatic
monitoring, self-judgment and independent adjustment through the
internal computer chip to keep the best running state under different
conditions.
Non-pneumatic tires overcome the hidden dangers of puncturing,
deflating and bursting of conventional pneumatic tires, and improve the
driving safety and mobility of vehicles. However, due to stress concen­
tration, variable load and impact, the key components of non-pneumatic
tires may still fail. If their health status can be monitored, the driving
safety of vehicles will be greatly improved. To achieve this goal, the state
of the damaged non-pneumatic tire should first be deeply analyzed.
Therefore, this paper studied the mechanical characteristics of the
damaged honeycomb tire, and discussed the influence of spokes fracture
degree on the honeycomb tire’s static characteristics and vibration
modes. The research results provide a basis for structural design and
optimization, health monitoring and fault diagnosis of the non-
pneumatic tire. The research results are as follows.
1) The influence of spokes fracture damage on the load characteristics
of the non-pneumatic tire is shown by the change of vertical stiffness.
The radial stiffness of the honeycomb tire is significantly reduced,
Y. Deng et al.
Fig. 18. Natural frequency of honeycomb tire under different damage cases.
and the shear layer stress is significantly increased due to the damage
of spokes.
2) The influence of spokes fracture damage on the grounding charac­
teristics of the non-pneumatic tire is represented by the change of
tread grounding pressure. The grounding pressure is affected by the
shape of the honeycomb cell structure. The cell wall fracture at
different locations will affect the distribution and size of ground
pressure. Therefore, the change of grounding pressure is not linear
under different damage cases. However, with the aggravation of the
damage, the contact pressure of the honeycomb tire first decreased
slightly and then increased significantly.
3) The influence of honeycomb fracture damage on the vibration
characteristics of the non-pneumatic tire is manifested in the change
of natural frequency and vibration mode. The vibration mode of
honeycomb tire after spokes damage is mainly the dislocation of the
damaged part, and its natural frequency is significantly reduced.
With the aggravation of damage, the stiffness of the honeycomb tire
decreases, so its natural frequency shows a significant decreasing
trend.
In the future research, we will customize corresponding non-
pneumatic tires and combine the finite element simulation data, sen­
sors and machine learning algorithm to study the fault diagnosis and
residual life of non-pneumatic tires. At the same time, bench and real
vehicle tests are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
method.
Contribution statement
Yaoji Deng: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Investiga­
tion, Formal Analysis, Writing-Original Draft; Zhiyue Wang: Data
Curation, Writing-Original Draft; Tao Liu: Visualization, Investigation;
Wenrong Liang: Resources, Supervision; Hui Shen: Software, Validation;
Zhen Xiao: Visualization, Writing - Review & Editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 102 (2023) 105120
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the editors and the reviewers for their patient
work and constructive suggestions. This work was supported by the
Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu
Province [grant number SJCX23_1903], and the Yangzhou City-Yangz­
hou University Co construction of Innovation and Technology Platform
Project [grant number YZ2020266].
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