Simulation of the temperature and wear behaviour of a disc brake

Aerosols are defined in the simplest form as a mixture of solid or liquid particles suspended in a gas [1]. Brake dust is an aerosol, generated as a result of erosion between brake disc and brake pad. The aerosols can cause visual disorder, heart and lung diseases, short term acute symptoms like asthma, bronchitis and long term chronic irritation and inflammation of the respiratory track, which can lead to cancer. Therefore, it is important to know which factors are affecting the erosion rate of brakes. The main objective of this work is to measure the erosion rate of brake discs and brake pads, depending on temperature changes and deformation by performing experiments and simulations at varying velocities and load conditions. The general purpose, commercially available finite element solver Abaqus is used for performing the thermomechanically coupled simulations. Archad's Wear Law is used for the wear calculation. Experiments are conducted by using a pin on disc test bench. Temperature changes are measured by using thermocouples and erosion rates by measuring the total volume loss. At the end, relationships between erosion rates and temperature changes for different brake disc velocities and load conditions are investigated and experimental and simulation results are compared and discussed. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)