THERMAL CALCULATION OF A SPECIAL VEHICLE DRUM BRAKE SYSTEM

This paper shows the mathematical model used to calculate the pressure variation on the contact surface between shoe and drum. The braking system is one of the most important systems of a vehicle's active safety. Hence, it turns to be extremely important to adopting effective solutions from both of the braking performances and reliability/maintainability points of view. The friction between the brake shoe and drum occurs along a circular are of contact surface. Using a specialized FEM (Finite Element Method) program, I have modeled the drum-and-shoe brake of the vehicle and I have simulated its working modes as close to the real life as possible. The FEM spotted thermal accumulation points as well as the intensity of the heat transfer process for the drum, friction lining and shoe.