Predictive Assessment of Drum Brake Squeal Utilizing Advanced Time-Domain CAE Synthesis

With the growing trend of electric vehicles (EVs) incorporating regenerative braking systems, disc brakes are becoming increasingly common—not only in EVs but also in high-performance and luxury vehicles. However, many compact SUVs, including hybrids and EVs, still utilize drum brakes on the rear wheels to strike a balance between cost, performance, and durability. Drum brake squeal remains a complex and persistent challenge in the field of vehicle noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH). This issue stems from dynamic instability caused by time-dependent friction forces. Traditional linear modal analysis has been used to study the mechanisms behind drum brake squeal, focusing on harmonic vibrations in large-scale models. However, these methods often fail to accurately correlate with real-world behavior due to the presence of extra, non-physical modes. To address this, time-domain analysis approaches have been explored, incorporating detailed friction models and contact mechanics. These methods consider different root causes for high- and low-frequency squeal and have shown promising results in accurately predicting brake squeal behavior when validated against experimental data.