Transient Heat Transfer Simulation and Buckling Analysis of Disc Brakes in In-Wheel Motor-Driven Vehicles

High-temperature distributions in disc brake mounted within in-wheel motor-driven vehicles have several negative effects on braking performance. This is mainly due to the enclosed nature of the brake components. This paper aims to determine the effect of contact geometry on temperature distribution and thermal buckling in such a brake. Numerical analysis is conducted to investigate the variation of temperature field on the brake disc at different cover angles of pads while maintaining the same moment of friction. The effect of different radial positions of the pads is a second consideration in the current work, using a transient modeling approach. To validate the simulation results, an approximate, analytical solution is derived according to energy conservation. The results show that, for the same work done by the pads, the maximum temperature on the disc increases with a decrease in the pad cover angle. Also, the pad positions were found to affect temperature distribution significantly on the friction disc surface. More importantly, the effect of the resulting temperature distribution on thermal buckling of the disc is also considered. It was found that, for the same friction work, certain contact geometry can cause the braking temperature to exceed the critical thermal buckling temperature, leading to buckling during brake operations.