Investigations on the Effect of Blade Angle on Ventilated Brake Disc Using CFD

Abstract

This paper presents the investigation on the effect of blade angle to the mass flow and heat transfer coefficient of a ventilated brake disc. Six different blade angle configurations are simulated using commercial computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. Important parameters such as mass flow rate of air through the ventilated blade and surface heat transfer coefficient are predicted and analyzed. Prediction shows reasonable estimation of mass flow rate and heat transfer coefficient on the disc brake. Linear trend is achieved on the mass flow and heat transfer coefficient as the vehicle speed increases. It is also concluded that the optimum mass flow and heat transfer coefficient are predicted at blade angle of 15°. The prediction provides an insight into the behavior of the air flow through the restricted passage of the brake disc design.

An investigation of the influence of the wheel spoke type on the convective cooling of the brake disc using the computational fluid dynamics method

“…For blade-vented discs, the blade angle and the geometry are found to be the key factors which influence the mass flow rate and the convective heat transfer coefficient. [11][12][13] The relatively simple modification of installing an additional small vane between the existing blades can also improve convective cooling. 14 The convective heat transfer rate of a blade-vented brake disc can be further increased by modifying the inner smooth surfaces to semicylindrically grooved or helically fluted surfaces.…”

Ventilated Brake Disk Air Streamlining Using Curved Vane

“…Numerous past researchers have explored in this area. The author's past research on disk brake using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is referred in the ASME publication [1] and the Masters thesis [2] from Cranfield University. In both work reported, the investigation on flow characteristics were done using CFD with different geometries and computational strategy.…”