Temperature Distribution on a Car Disc Brake

The analysis of temperature distribution on a car disc brake can be approached by considering the contact surface between disc and brake pads of a car when a car decelerating by applying braking force to the brake pedal. The braking force will be transferred from the brake pedal via brake fluid to the brake pads to generate the friction area between disc brake and brake pad. Heat flux, or frictional heat, will be produced at the frictional contact area by two mating parts with difference materials properties will decrease with time and it may result in increasing the temperature of the disc brake. On top of that, this may lead to false thermal elastic distortions and unrealistic contact conditions. The objective of this study is to investigate on temperature distribution in a car brake disc of small vehicle in the course of brake application. An analytical model will be used in this study for the determinations of the heat flux dissipated by the disc brake on the working surface. The three dimensional analysis using the finite element method is conducted for consecutively repeated brake application. The braking is done by two brake pads and the heating and cooling occur alternatively in the brake disc during the brake application. A severe repeated brake application is taken into account for the wheel load of 1.629 kN and the braking is applied from a speed of 120 km/h till to stop with a deceleration of 0.3g. After the first braking is completed, the vehicle is accelerated again and it takes 2 minutes which is considered as the cooling period before the next brake application is conducted. The temperature distributions within the brake disc for three times brake application are then plotted and discussed. It is found that the maximum temperature is obtained at the mid-time of brake application.