Simulation Based Design for Heavy Truck Brake

Begin Brakes in cars and trucks are safety parts. Requirements not only in performance but also in comfort, serviceability and working lifetime are high and rising. Simulation based design (SBD) technology refers to the application of simulation technology in design of products, which means not physical prototype but Virtual Prototype (VP) was made to study the static and dynamic performance of the products. With SBD technology, lower cost, higher quality and shorter design cycle can be expected. An example of SBD of Heavy Truck’s Brake is demonstrated. In order to accurately calculate the braking efficiency factor of drum brake shoe of heavy truck, the finite element analysis software ANSYS and the multi-body system simulation software MSC.ADAMS were used to establish the drum brake virtual prototyping model. The model was built by developing joint program module between the rigid shoe and the flexible lining and nonlinear contact force program module between the lining and the rigid drum. Using this model, the simulation was executed for the drum brake of 32t heavy duty truck. The results show that the simulated braking efficiency factor coincides with experimental results of the braking efficiency factor of the heavy truck drum brake.