Flow Inside a Pneumatic Tire: A Peristaltic-Pumping Analysis for the Thin-Tire Limit at Very Low Forward Speed

The flow inside a pneumatic tire is analyzed in the limit where the cross-sectional diameter of the tire is small in comparison to the wheel diameter, and where the forward speed is sufficiently low that centrifugal pressure gradients can be neglected. The movement of the contact point around the circumference of the tire produces an internal flow by a mechanism analogous to peristaltic pumping in long flexible ducts. Analytic expressions for the flow velocities and pressures predicted by this model are derived, and are related to tire velocity and load.