Finite Element Thermal Model of an Aircraft Wheel and Carbon Brake Assembly

An aircraft braking system thermal modeling approach which provides a high degree of temperature resolution has been developed. This finite element method (FEM) based approach has been successfully employed to model the transient, non-linear thermal response of a large aircraft wheel and carbon brake assembly during and after a braking event. Commercially available software was utilized for graphics based model pre and post processing and generation of the FEM analysis results. Temperature distributions were determined at a level of detail much greater than that available from existing system thermal models. Good agreement between the model predictions and measured temperature histories from a dynamometer test using full scale braking system hardware was obtained.