Studying and Analyzing the Effect of Friction Lining Thickness on the Pressure Distribution of Disc Brake System Using Finite Element Method

When any vehicle starts braking, considerable heat is generated, which causes contact surfaces to heat up significantly and wear to accelerate quickly. Therefore, a deep investigation was conducted to study and analyze the influence of pad's lining thickness on the distribution of contact pressure within an automobile's brake system using finite element analysis. A developed three-dimensional finite element model was created to find the solution to sliding and contact problems. It was selected three different lining thicknesses (5, 11, and 16.5 mm) for pads. The results presented the contact pressure distribution across all surfaces during the braking process while accounting for thermal effects. It was found that the thickness of brake pads plays a key role in maintaining operational conditions of brake systems, and when the thickness decreases, so does contact pressure increase.