Evaluation of heat localization behaviour on brake disk rubbing surface (Proposal of reproducing surface temperature by FEM analysis)

Abstract

Frictional heat is generated on the rubbing surface and various types of thermal localization occur during sliding contact in braking on disk and pad surfaces. Thermoelastic expansion affects the contact pressure distribution due to the frictional heat generation. The surface temperature is sometimes localized, and the thermal behavior causes surface damage. To evaluate this phenomenon, braking tests were conducted and the localized temperature on the disk surface was observed with an infrared camera. The localized temperature was found to correlate with frequency response for contact force variation. To investigate localized temperature on the disk surface, FEM analysis of the braking test was conducted. The FEM analysis method combined with contact analysis and heat transfer/thermal stress analysis was applied. Heat flux distributions were calculated by contact analysis in consideration of the frictional heating introducing the actual contact force and the friction coefficient variation. The disk surface temperature was then evaluated by the coupled heat transfer/thermal stress analysis using the heat flux distributions obtained from the results of contact analysis. The disk surface temperature obtained from FEM analysis almost coincided with that measured during the braking test. Moreover, the new method could greatly reduce the calculation time compared to the method using the contact analysis alone. Therefore, the proposed method is believed to be useful for evaluation of the rubbing surface temperature.

Keywords

• railway
• brake disk
• braking system
• heat localization
• frictional heating
• heat spot
• fem analysis