Modeling of Wet Clutch Engagement Including a Thorough Experimental Validation

A detailed experimental validation has been carried out to point to limitations of static wet-clutch friction model for typical clutch engagement transients. The model accuracy can be increased by incorporating the fluid film dynamics, as done in the lumped-parameter dynamic clutch model developed at the University of Purdue. That model is extended herein in order to increase its accuracy especially in the case of grooved clutches. The extensions include a description of clutch actuator dynamics and introduction of an empirical scaling factor for the fluid film thickness state equation. More rigorous treatment of fluid dynamics for the grooved clutch is also presented.