Differential Effects of Dimensions on Various Vibration Modes of Brake Disc Rotors

The propensity of brake squeal depends significantly on the vibrational characteristics of disc rotors. In this study, we focused on the differential effects of disc dimensions on the natural frequencies of various vibration modes. We analyzed the results of the CAE factorial experiments presented in our previous paper, which were conducted on four disc rotors with different designs such as front-and back-vented and solid discs. As a result, the effects of disc dimensions on natural frequencies were confirmed to depend on vibration modes, their orders (or the number of nodal diameters), and the basic design of disc rotors. The dimensions that change the stiffness of the friction ring such as ventilation-path width and fin thickness had larger effects on the out-of-plane circumferential modes of high orders than those of low orders. The dimensions around the necking, on the other hand, had a large effect on the low-order modes. The significance of these effects depends on the basic design of disc rotors as well. The effects of some typical dimensions on natural frequencies obtained from CAE experiments were further verified by comparing them with physical test results.