Hot judder simulation of a ventilated disc and design of an improved disc using sensitivity analysis

In a disc brake system, thermal expansion of the material is caused by friction energy that is generated by the sliding contact between a disc and pad during braking. This phenomenon, thermo-elastic instability, can lead to hot spots on the disc surface and a hot judder phenomenon. Transient finite element analysis has been used to simulate this phenomenon. Three dimensional finite element models of a disc, pad, and cylinder were created. Each part was connected by a joint. Contact condition was applied to the disc and pad with a friction coefficient (μ) of 0.4. A convective heat transfer coefficient was set as 40 W/m²K. Using a commercial program SAMCEF, the simulation of the thermo-mechanically coupled system was performed. In order to find the sensitive parameters of brake judder, sensitivity analysis was carried out with consideration for disc design parameters. As a result, the hot spot phenomenon was confirmed and hot judder was predicted. Moreover, the more sensitive parameters of the hot judder phenomenon were presented. Finally, an improved disc model and an analysis technique were verified by comparison to dynamo test results.