daTeacha
Veteran Member
I can see that this has the potential to become one of those topics which goes 'round and 'round with everyone thinking they are right, sort of disagreeing with others, and never resolving the issue.
If you have the capacity to accurately determine the internal volume of the tire when it is bearing weight and when it is not and allowing for the change in shape when the weight is on it, there may be a slight change in volume. As the Firestone people put it, volume is nearly constant. Based on that, they said increasing the weight will increase the pressure. Note that they did not say how much. Going up a few posts, the increase in pressure will be as miniscule as the decrease in volume and not something that will show up on a tire gauge of the type anyone is likely to have. You will not increase the pressure without decreasing the volume.
If said tiny decrease in volume occurs, there will also be a corresponding tiny increase in temperature, again adding to the pressure by a miniscule amount. However, within the range of values measurable by commonly available tools, the addition of any reasonable weight on the tire is not going to change the pressure by a measurable amount, as evidenced by the lack of change in pressure when the tractor with backhoe mounted was set up with 20 psi in the tires in the air and it remained at 20 psi when the tires were carrying the load of the tractor and hoe.
Did the pressure go up? Yes. Was it by enough to show up on a normal pressure gauge? No. Did the volume change? Yes, but only because the flat part of the tire on the ground has a different cross sectional surface/volume ratio than the portions not contacting the ground. Is that volume change enough to impact the pressure? Yes, but again only by a tiny amount not measurable by most of us.
For tires with liquid in them, the volume with which you start is considerably less. Thus any miniscule change in volume resulting from changing the profile of the bottom of the tire will be a bigger percentage of the original volume and should result in a more nearly measurable change in pressure. Liquids, however, are not compressible. Liquids in a tire will have the same volume regardless of the pressure and will have the same pressure as the air in the tire -- that's why hydraulic systems work. The only possible exception might be an again miniscule difference in the pressure of the liquid near the top of the tire when compared to the bottom due to the weight of the liquid in the higher parts of the tire -- just like the increase in pressure evident at the bottom of a swimming pool. Again, this is not something likely to be measurable by common tire pressure gauges.
Okay, gentlemen, fire away! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
If you have the capacity to accurately determine the internal volume of the tire when it is bearing weight and when it is not and allowing for the change in shape when the weight is on it, there may be a slight change in volume. As the Firestone people put it, volume is nearly constant. Based on that, they said increasing the weight will increase the pressure. Note that they did not say how much. Going up a few posts, the increase in pressure will be as miniscule as the decrease in volume and not something that will show up on a tire gauge of the type anyone is likely to have. You will not increase the pressure without decreasing the volume.
If said tiny decrease in volume occurs, there will also be a corresponding tiny increase in temperature, again adding to the pressure by a miniscule amount. However, within the range of values measurable by commonly available tools, the addition of any reasonable weight on the tire is not going to change the pressure by a measurable amount, as evidenced by the lack of change in pressure when the tractor with backhoe mounted was set up with 20 psi in the tires in the air and it remained at 20 psi when the tires were carrying the load of the tractor and hoe.
Did the pressure go up? Yes. Was it by enough to show up on a normal pressure gauge? No. Did the volume change? Yes, but only because the flat part of the tire on the ground has a different cross sectional surface/volume ratio than the portions not contacting the ground. Is that volume change enough to impact the pressure? Yes, but again only by a tiny amount not measurable by most of us.
For tires with liquid in them, the volume with which you start is considerably less. Thus any miniscule change in volume resulting from changing the profile of the bottom of the tire will be a bigger percentage of the original volume and should result in a more nearly measurable change in pressure. Liquids, however, are not compressible. Liquids in a tire will have the same volume regardless of the pressure and will have the same pressure as the air in the tire -- that's why hydraulic systems work. The only possible exception might be an again miniscule difference in the pressure of the liquid near the top of the tire when compared to the bottom due to the weight of the liquid in the higher parts of the tire -- just like the increase in pressure evident at the bottom of a swimming pool. Again, this is not something likely to be measurable by common tire pressure gauges.
Okay, gentlemen, fire away! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif