BFS adds rolling tire simulator at Akron lab

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 31)—Bridgestone/Firestone has added a rolling tire simulator—a piece of test equipment that allows replication of field testing in the laboratory—at its tire/vehicle performance laboratory in Akron. The rolling simulator, designed and built by MTS Systems Corp., provides "unprecedented accuracy and repeatability" of arbitrary loading conditions, Bridgestone/Firestone said in a prepared statement. It also allows technicians to replicate test conditions derived from vehicle loadings in the field. The simulator's flexibility and performance are achieved by computerized machine controls and data acquisition systems, BFS said. Eden Prairie, Minn.-based MTS earlier this year delivered a Flat-Trac high-speed flat bed test system to Bridgestone Corp. for its Tokyo technical center.