Validation of a numerical procedure for fatigue assessment of a 325mm brake shoe

The air brake system is still the most common brake system in use in heavy diesel vehicles. For safety and economic reasons it is imperative to understand the performance and durability (especially fatigue and wear) of every component of a drum brake, particularly the brake shoes. In applications where torque is lower than 20kNm brake shoes are made of ductile metals such as SAE 1030 steel. For such ductile materials Brown-Miller and Fatemi-Socie are the most recommended methods for fatigue crack initiation life prediction. The next pages discuss the validation of these fatigue methods in the case study of a 325mm brake shoe.