Abstract: The abrasion condition of aircraft tires has big influence on its hydroplaning behavior, and then affects flight safety. Aiming at this problem, the tire models with different abrasion degrees are established by using finite element software, and CEL algorithm is used to establish tire—waterfilm—pavement interaction model. The influence of tire abrasion degree on the three factors‘interaction is analyzed, and the critical hydroplaning speed of tires with different abrasion degrees on pavement with various waterfilm thickness is calculated. Results show that when the groove abrasion degree is more than 50% , the drainage capacity decreases obviously, and the distribution of hydrodynamic pressure on the front edge changes. With the increase of tire abrasion degree, the critical hydroplaning speed will decrease continuously. When the groove depth gets abraded to less than the current waterfilm thickness, the critical hydroplaning speed of the tire decreases by 16%~20%, hydroplaning is more likely to occur, which will affect the maneuverability of aircraft during landing. Accordingly, airliners are suggested to revise the tire replacement standard to ‘replace the tire when the abrasion rate reaches 50%’.

Key words: groove abrasion, hydroplaning, CEL algorithm, critical hydroplaning speed