Based on the appropriate stiffness and inertial properties of prototypical aircraft landing gear suspension systems, a tire spinup model is developed. Due to its generality, the model can define the various governing dynamical fields. Here the effects of such factors as sink rate, runway friction and aircraft landing speed are considered. Main attention is given to defining the tire deflection-rotation-skidding history as well as the net and pointwise rate of work due to interfacial friction as it effects the growth of rotary inertia and slip work. To quantify the influence of such environmental factor as sink rate, friction and landing speed, a case study involving the shuttle main tires is included.
