Method to design honeycombs for a shear flexible structure

A computer implemented method for design of a shear layer for use in a shear band of a tire, said shear layer having a desired in-plane effective shear stiffness, G12*, a desired maximum shear strain, (γ12*)max, said method including the use of a honeycomb design algorithm, said honeycomb having a plurality of vertical members, a summation of a vertical member lengths H′, an overall height, H, a plurality of horizontal cells, Nh, wall thickness, t, vertical layers, Nv, a length of the honeycomb structure, L, a defined variable, d, which is the ratio of said length, L, to said number of horizontal cells, Nh, another defined variable R, which is the ratio of the summation of said vertical member lengths, H′, relative to said overall height, H, said method comprising the following steps:

• first, inputting a one or more constituent material properties, a design value for said height, H, a design value for said length, L, a target range for (γ12*)max, and a target value of G12* into the computer implemented honeycomb design algorithm, and
• second, using the computer implemented algorithm to fix the number of horizontal cells, Nh, to an initial value Nh1 and using a bisection loop to find a value of R that will produce a value for (γ12*)max within a specified range, wherein the value of Nh1 used in this step is found using the equation Nh1=2L/H, which sets d to be approximately equal to H/2 while ensuring that Nh1 is an integer.