THERMAL ANALYSIS OF DISK BRAKE IN ORDER TO STUDY THE BRAKE FLUID VAPORIZATION PHENOMENON OF A FORMULA SAE CAR

Abstract

The brake system is inarguable one of the most critical aspect of a vehicle safety. It has always been the major concern for design engineers to develop a system that gives a steady performance with respect to time. In order to achieve that feat, one of the most common problems that arises in maintaining a brake is the problem of brake fluid vaporization. Brake fluids, being hygroscopic in nature, absorb moisture over a period of time. It is one of the prime reasons for reducing the longevity of brake fluid volume inside the brake caliper as the boiling point of brake fluid comes down drastically with the absorption of moisture. In addition to it, a series of repetitive braking action which is a common phenomenon over a hill slope or for performance vehicles, tend to generate a lot of heat and increase the temperature of the brake fluids, sometimes up to their vaporization. The race cars of the Formula SAE team at the University of Texas of Arlington face this challenge on a regular basis because of repetitive braking on curved tracks. In order to ensure safety of the vehicles, a study has been proposed in this report that deals with the problem of repetitive braking under extreme (hard) braking conditions and the temperature dependence of the brake fluid on it. The theoretical results of the simulation conducted in MATLAB were later verified by the experimental ones performed on a Formula SAE vehicle of the University of Texas at Arlington.