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Courtesy of General Motors Product Development Center
Engineers at the GM Product Development Center in Pontiac, MI have devised
a process for modeling standard vented rotors in automotive brake assemblies.
The FLUENT-based CFD methodology allows them to better understand flows
and related thermal effects in brake rotors, and thereby helps them to
reduce development time and costs. The approach enables integration of
structural and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) requirements into
brake rotor design. The process that has evolved makes use of ANSA for
surface modeling, TGrid for tetrahedral and prismatic meshing, and FLUENT
for CFD simulations. In addition, the CFD solutions are coupled with the
MATLAB code for specialized lumped model solutions.
Single vented rotor and predicted flow path lines
GM personnel perform CFD analyses of rotors to assess vent flow rates,
cooling rates, heating rates, and heat-cool cycle asymptotes. Recently,
they have integrated in-house lumped parameter models into the process.
The lumped parameter models use CFD data as input boundary conditions.
This has permitted engineers to assess brake rotor performance in complex
city traffic schedules and predict brake pad wear. Their CFD models have
also been extended to perform rotor-in-vehicle simulations to predict
rotor thermal performance and component peak temperatures.
Typical city traffic simulation lumped parameter model predictions
The numerical modeling process has allowed GM engineers to successfully
predict the performance of both front and rear rotor assemblies, replace
their expensive and time-consuming testing procedures, and look at new
rotor design concepts. In the future, this thermal analysis approach will
be extended to include the complexities of full brake assemblies.
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