Murat Otkur
Abstract: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is organizing Formula SAE (FSAE) competitions considering university students since 1981 targeting development of students via designing, manufacturing and racing with one-seated open wheeled race cars. The brake system plays a crucial role as a major component in designing a one-seated race vehicle for FSAE student competition. To avoid failures from brake fade and thermal stress, car brakes must not only be robust enough to withstand extreme mechanical loads but also dissipate the heat generated during braking in order to prevent the temperature breach the Maximum Design Temperature (MDT) limit. Additionally, the weight of the brake disc rotors plays a crucial role in the overall weight and of course performance of the vehicle. The methodological analysis, in order to determine a disc brake rotor's temperature profile under sporadic loads during consecutive braking and acceleration/cruise events considering a race, is presented in this work. OptimumLap software is used to determine a time-dependent vehicle speed and braking intensity profile for the 2019 Formula SAE competition Michigan endurance track and default Formula SAE vehicle configuration in OptimumLap software. The temperature distribution of the bicycle brake disc rotor (TEKTRO brand 6-bolt TR-8) during a sequence of successive braking and acceleration/cruise events across 2 laps is simulated using "SolidWorks" thermal analysis. Thermal simulations are continued until the temperature difference between consecutive laps is less than 10 K. A total of 106 thermal simulations were performed where the maximum temperature of the disc rotor is simulated as 1713 K which is above the MDT and the consecutive simulation are replaced with a single simulation maintaining the maximum simulation temperature via modifying thermal simulation input parameters. A DOE based optimization is carried using the single simulation method and the maximum temperature is reduced below the MDT limit. This study examines a practical approach for Formula SAE racing car disc brake temperature profile analysis and optimization.
Keywords: Thermal analysis, Formula student, SolidWorks, Minitab, DOE, OptimumLap, Disc Rotor.
Date Published: December 16, 2024 DOI: 10.11159/jffhmt.2024.042
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