Antiskid System Operation

When brake force is applied to a vehicle wheel that is in normal contact with the pavement, the rubber of the tire begins to stretch in response to friction heating and the force applied to the tire-pavement interface. This has the effect of making the tire circumference significantly larger than it is without the brakes applied.

When brake force is applied, the angular velocity of the braked wheel drops by several percent. Early researchers thought that this slowing down was the result of the tire slipping against the pavement and coined the term "slip velocity" to express the difference between the circumferential speed of the braked and un-braked wheels. If the level of braking is increased until the co-efficient of friction, mu, can no longer support the force being applied to the rubber, then true slip begins and the available stopping force begins to diminish.

Operation at the peak of the mu-slip curve gives the highest braking efficiency. Research suggests that a small level of true slip may increase mu and that the peak of the curve actually occurs after true slip has begun. Operation just beyond the peak of the curve results in increased tire wear and if the brake force is further increased, a skid develops that may lock the wheel and blow the tire if unchecked. Aircraft tires can blow in as little as 300 milliseconds at high speeds if the wheel is locked.

Modern Crane Aerospace & Electronics brake control systems work by measuring the speed of the wheel to determine slip and developing a correction signal to adjust brake pressure to keep the tire operating at the peak of the mu-slip curve. A rotary transducer, which is usually mounted in the aircraft axle, measures wheelspeed and provides a signal to an electronic brake system control unit (BSCU). The control unit derives where the tire is operating on the mu-slip curve for the prevailing runway conditions and sends a correction signal to the antiskid valve to reduce applied brake pressure.