Thermal behavior of full and ventilated disc brakes of vehicles

Braking is a process which converts a vehicle's kinetic energy into mechanical energy which must be dissipated in the form of heat. During the braking phase, the frictional heat generated at the interface of the disc and pads can lead to high temperatures. This phenomenon is even more important than the tangential stress. The relative sliding speeds during contact are also important. The prediction of surface temperature for a brake rotor is regarded as an important step in studying brake system performance. The frictional heat generated on the rotor surface can influence excessive temperature rise which, in turn, leads to undesirable effects such as thermal elastic instability (TEI), premature wear, brake fluid vaporization (BFV) and thermally excited vibrations (TEV). The objective of this study is to analyze the thermal behavior of the full and ventilated brake discs of the vehicles using computing code ANSYS. The modeling of the temperature distribution in the disc brake is used to identify all the factors and the entering parameters concerned at the time of the braking operation, such as the type of braking, the geometric design of the disc and the material used. The results obtained by the simulation are satisfactory compared to those of the specialized literature.