In the EU project LEON-T, one work package had the task of producing a heavy-goods-vehicle (HGV) tire with the potential to reduce tire/road noise by 6dB compared to common tires of similar dimensions. The consortium found that the only way to achieve this would be with a highly innovative design, in this case an airless tire. The author suggested a design similar to an earlier airless tire constructed for cars – which had showed very promising performance – as a model which could be tried to scale up to HGV size. This was accepted and this presentation will show the outcome.

• How an airless heavy truck tire prototype was built
• The project time (3½ years) seemed too short to produce a prototype durable enough
• The main problem was the connection between spokes and belt
• Despite the insufficient durability, the tire's performance suggested that noise could be reduced significantly at highway speeds
• As a first attempt, with some flaws, coast-downs suggested that the airless tire’s rolling resistance was no worse than that of a common market tire with energy label C.