Effect of load type on temperature rise of a disc brake

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reveal the temperature rise characteristics of the disc and pads under different load types. Design/methodology/approach – Evolutions of the disc and pads temperature under a stable, gradual changing and sine-wave contact pressures widely used at present are analyzed numerically by using ANSYS software. Findings – The results show that during the loading process, the temperature increases most rapidly under a stable contact pressure, most slowly under a gradual changing contact pressure; the disc temperature rise curves expose saw-shaped character, the closer it is to the friction surface, the more serious the fluctuations will be, the pads temperature rise curves are rather smooth; temperature gradient in the axial direction is higher than that in the other two directions under all of the three types of contact pressure and shows a sine-wave variation under a sine-wave contact pressure. Originality/value – It indicates that a gradual changing contact pressure should be adopted preferentially in practical application. The simulation results of this work provide theoretical basis for load simulation.