Prediction of Railway Disc Brake Temperatures Taking the Bearing Surface Variations into Account

For several years, increasing velocities and loads on modern trains have pushed the braking materials more and more to their limits. The temperatures reached by disc brakes are very difficult to predict locally because of the discontinuous contact surface between disc and pads and because of the non-uniform pressure distribution on this surface. This contact problem may also vary rapidly with time during a single braking and from one braking to the next one. The present work proposes a two-dimensional numerical approach calculating the evolution of the bearing surface between disc and pad, with an impact-contact analysis coupled with a thermomechanical resolution. The distribution and the evolution of the temperatures are calculated and compared to experimental measurements. The method can be used to assess the performance of braking systems and gives valuable indications for braking design.