Abstract:
This project is focuses on studying the temperature distribution using commercial Finite Element Analysis (FEA), ANSYS workbench. The simulation results are then compared with the experimental results and the maximum simulation temperature attained as well as the simulated temperature distribution in the disc brake should not differ from the experimental results by more than 15%. A simple datum (small) disc design was first constructed to model the brake
discs, and an averaged time-varying heat flux was applied on one surface of the model to simulate the brake action. The simulation results were found to be within 15% difference from the experimental results of the general temperature distribution
on motorcycle brake disc, but were unable to predict a “heat spot” phenomenon around the holes in the brake disc. 3D models of the brake discs for datum disc design, medium disc design and large disc design were then constructed to attempt to simulate the heat spot phenomenon using the same averaged time-varying heat flux. After further research and simulations, it was concluded that the reason for the heat spot phenomenon could not be determined exactly. Possible reasons include
frictional effects, mechanical deformations and uneven distribution of heat, which are
hard to predict and cannot be simulated using thermal analysis.