A Multi Body Dynamic Analysis of Click Noise Generated in Rear Brake Caliper

As customer awareness of brake-related NVH(Noise, Vibration and Harshness) continues to increase across the automotive industry, noise originating from braking systems is increasingly regarded as important indicator of vehicle quality. Among these issues, intermittent click noise from rear brake caliper is commonly noticed during low-speed driving and initial brake application and is frequently associated with customer dissatisfaction. In the automotive industry, this noise has primarily been addressed through empirical design modifications and component-level testing. However, due to its low reproducibility and impulsive response characteristics, making quantitative prediction and root-cause identification during the design phase difficult. While most previous brake NVH research has mainly focused on continuous vibration phenomena such as squeal and groan, fewer studies have examined single-event impact noise related to pad-to-carrier clearances, contact transitions, and frictional nonlinearity from a simulation-based perspective. In this study, rear brake caliper click noise is defined as a dynamic phenomenon inherent to conventional caliper mechanical architecture. A Multi-Body-Dynamic model was developed using RecurDyn to reproduce the observed behavior incorporating pad-to-carrier clearance, friction characteristics, and component compliance. Brake dynamometer testing was conducted to measure acceleration and noise response, and correlation with simulation results was performed. Simulation and tests were carried out using a caliper geometry whose improvement effectiveness had been confirmed in prior applications, demonstrating that the applied approach can qualitatively and reproduce the occurrence tendencies and key characteristics of rear caliper click noise. The simulation-test integrated approach is applicable to early-stage NVH risk assessment and to the validation of countermeasures for click noise in production vehicles. Future work will focus on improving analytical modeling and prediction of click noise through development of a new model incorporating key design parameters