Analysis of cord-reinforced poly-rib serpentine belt drive with thermal effect

This paper investigates the operation of an automotive poly-rib serpentine belt system. A three-dimensional dynamic finite element model, consisting of a driver pulley, a driven pulley, and a complete five-rib V-ribbed belt, was created. Belt construction accounts for three different elastomeric compounds and a single layer of reinforcing cords. Rubber was considered incompressible hyperelastic material, and cord was considered linear elastic material. The material model accounting for thermal strains and temperature-dependent properties of the rubber solids was implemented in ABAQUS/EXPLICIT code for the simulation. A tangential shear angle and an axial shear angle were defined to quantify shear deformations. The shear angles were found to be closely related to velocity variation along contact arc and the imbalanced contact stress distribution on different sides of the same rib and on different ribs. The temperature effect on shear deformation, tension anti velocity variation, and contact stress distribution was investigated and shown in comparison to the results for the same system operating at room temperature.