How do I calculate the total contact area of a wheel on a flat surface, specifically a flat forklift tire? What variables do I need to gather?
Yes, friction is important for traction, but the power is coming from the engine. And why should the train be lighter than the engine? Why can't it be heavier and still be pulled by the engine? I am not able to understand the question. Could you be clearer?
Well you would need to consider the weight of the forklift, whether or not its weight is evenly distributed or there is more loaded on one side than the other, the rigidness of the rubber of the tyre, the pressure of air in the tyre. The equation is not commonly known. Edit: To the above answer: A circle is a bad approximation for a flat tyre. A better idea is to assume the area of contact is a rectangle. You can measure the lenght of the part of the wheel that is touching the ground (from front to back). Then multiply by the width of the wheel.
The wheel's outer most surface is just like a circle but with thicknessx" which is equal to the width of the tire..... and we know that the flat surface exactly tangent to this wheel so, the flat surface and the wheel are in contact with each other but this is one line whose length is equal to the thickness of the wheel, so the area of the contact = 0 but the length of it is =x" = thickness of the wheel
