The Thermal Analysis of Brake Disc with 3-D Coupled Analysis

As the automobile industry develops, the demand for automobiles that provide more comfortable ride and safety is also increasing. In the conventional braking analysis, frictional heat generation is only related to wheel speed, friction material, and the interface pressure. However, under the dynamic braking conditions, the frictional heat causes the thermo-elastic distortion that leads to more concentrated distribution of contact pressure and hence more and more non-uniform temperature. This paper describes the thermo-elastic instability arising from friction heat generation in braking and proposes the finite element methods to predict the variation of temperature and thermal deformation.