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Heavy vehicles commonly use dual tires on their load and traction axles. As the only vehicle component involved in force transmission to the road, the tire is an important element in the road damage process. In this context, two factors involved are the tire's supported load and inflation pressure. Traditional practical assumptions are that each of the tires in dual arrangement supports the same load, and that the contact patch pressure is very similar to the tire's inflation pressure. To provide data about the load distribution and contact pressure in the tire's contact patch, a lab experimental study was carried out. For that, a lab device was used to determine the static load and pressure in the contact patch, using three different sets of heavy duty radial tires subjected to several combinations of supported load and inflation pressure.

In recent years, supersingle tires have been introduced in order to replace dual tires. In some countries such replacement is not a straight forward issue due to either lack of knowledge on its mechanical behavior or because their regulations do not consider such tire configuration. Usually, it is assumed that the force transmitted by dual single tires onto the roadway surface is evenly distributed and the contact pressure is quite similar to the tire's inflation pressure, although studies in this topic have shown that these assumptions are not realistic. Therefore, damage produced by supersingle tires is a main concern for road and transportation authorities. In order to obtain information on supersingle tires' behavior, a lab experimental assessment was carried out.