Comparative Numerical Study on Heat Dissipation Behaviour of Conventional Disc Brake Designs for High-Performance Requirements

The braking system in a vehicle is one of the most crucial parts for proper and safe operation. It is required to slow down or stop the vehicle and work by converting the kinetic energy of the wheel to heat. It is essential to dissipate the generated heat for optimal working and the long life of the disc brakes. Heat generated is due to friction between the brake pad and disc. Due to overheating of brakes due to prolonged braking and heavy braking, brake fade occurs. This leads to boiling of the brake fluid, gassing, and glazing of brake pads, hence reducing braking performance. Therefore, in this study, we used computer simulations to determine the best design that allows for the most heat dissipation by analyzing four different conventional disc brake designs. It was found that the slotted disc brake design had the maximum value of heat transfer coefficient (87.2% more than that of the vented disc brake) and also correspondingly the most decrease in the maximum temperature (39.56% decrease than that of the vented disc brake). We used CFD to study the effects of airflow on convection and FEA for thermal analysis. This study aims to understand the heat transport behaviour, in general, and heat dissipation disc brakes in a comprehensive manner, in particular.