Measured and Predicted Temperatures of Automotive Brakes under Heavy or Continuous Braking

Automotive disk brake systems can generate extremely high temperatures under high intensity short time braking or under relatively light but continuous braking. This paper describes an experiment in which fluid and braking system temperatures, pressures, and operating conditions (vehicle speed, braking energy dissipation, etc) were measured in three different classes of operating vehicles during brake application and subsequent brake release. Temperature histories predicted using a finite element analysis agreed well with the measured temperatures and the method can be used to estimate peak system and brake fluid temperatures.