Scooter Tire Pressure Influence on a Hard Braking Manoeuvre

Abstract

The mortality of road accidents quadruples when, in addition to motorists, a motorcyclist is also involved. The higher mortality is influenced by the greater exposure of the rider to injuries during the impact. This problem can be mitigated by reducing, even slightly, the impact’s speed. Bench tests carried out by previous studies showed a considerable influence of the inflation pressure on the properties of motorcycle tires. It could therefore have significant effects on the deceleration achievable under braking. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of inadequate tire inflation pressure (excessive or insufficient) on the average deceleration achievable during a hard braking manoeuvre performed only with the rear wheel and with ABS intervention. Experimental tests were carried out on a Piaggio Beverly S 300 in a controlled road environment closed to traffic. Different inflation pressures of the rear braking tire were tested during multiple runs. The data were acquired through a smartphone used as an IMU. At the nominal pressure of 2.4 bar the measured average deceleration was 3.69 m/s2 (SD = 0.12 m/s2). When increasing the pressure to 3.0 bar and decreasing it to 1.8 bar the average deceleration was reduced respectively to 3.67 m/s2 (-0.8%, SD = 0.10 m/s2) and 3.59 m/s2 (-3.0%, SD = 0.16 m/s2). The reduction in achievable deceleration was partly mitigated by the reduced load transfer on the rear tire, which partially compensated for the reduction of the braking force coefficient. The results showed that a moderate inflation pressure variation on the rear braking tire modestly influences the achievable average deceleration.