Title: A thermal braking model of the entire heavy vehicle wheel assembly

Authors: Joshua Subel; Frank Kienhöfer

Addresses: Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK ' School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Aeronautical Engineering, The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa

Abstract: Overheating of heavy vehicle brakes and surrounding components can have fatal consequences. The design specifications of the entire heavy vehicle wheel assembly including the rim material and wheel configuration impact the brake, axle, rim and tyre temperatures. Consequently, it is important to model the entire heavy vehicle wheel assembly. In this study, a thermal model to predict the temperatures of the brake, axle, rim and tyres is developed and validated using experimental braking results for single and dual wheels using steel and aluminium rims. The use of the model is illustrated by analysing the component temperature responses of a conceptual carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) rim to 2.5 kW of continuous braking. A CFRP rim would reduce the conduction of heat from the brakes into the tyres, resulting in a tyre temperature reduction of up to 35%. This positive benefit is at the expense of higher brake and rim temperatures.

Keywords: brake overheating; tyre failure; bearing failure; lumped mass modelling; transient thermal analysis; CFRP; carbon fibre reinforced polymer; rim materials.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2021.120917

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2021 Vol.28 No.5, pp.679 - 697

Received: 28 Aug 2020
Accepted: 21 Dec 2020
Published online: 17 Feb 2022 *

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