Thermal and structural analysis of disc brake assembly during single stop braking event

An automobile disc brake system is used to perform three basic functions, i.e. to reduce speed of a vehicle, to maintain its speed when travelling downhill and to completely stop the vehicle. During these braking events, the disc brake may suffer from structural and wear issues. It is quite sometimes that the disc brake components fail structurally and/or having severe wear on the pad. Thus, this paper aims to determine disc temperature and to examine stress concentration, structural deformation and contact pressure of brake disc and pads during single braking stop event by employing commercial finite-element software, ANSYS. The paper also highlights the effects of using a fixed calliper, different friction coefficients and different speeds of the disc on the stress concentration, structural deformation and contact pressure of brake disc and pads, respectively. The thermal-structural analysis is then used with coupling to determine the deformation and the Von Mises stress established in the disc, the contact pressure distribution in pads.