A numerical investigation of hot spotting origin of ventilated disc brakes

Abstract

Hot spots are high thermal gradients on the disc surface during brake events which can cause the undesired phenomena of thermal judder and drone. The origin of hot spotting has been presented by various theories such as Thermo elastic instability (TEI) and progressive waviness distortions (PWD). However, majority of the numerical models based on these theories mainly concentrated on solid disc rather than ventilated disc which is the most commonly used nowadays. According to the experimental work done by the authors, disc geometry factors such as vents and pins also have correlations with hot spot distribution; these phenomena are difficult to be predicted analytically. Thus a convenient 2D asymmetric finite element simulation has been performed in order to obtain the correlations observed in experiments. Further parameter studies investigated factors such as uneven initial temperature, vents, pins and pad length. The results have been correlated with the experimental data and demonstrate the contribution of geometric factors in the generation of hot spots and hot judder.