The influence of high energy brake applications on brake disks' integrity — Established by inertia brake dynamometer testing (January 2018)

This paper describes the problem concerning the potential damage and failure of brake disks in vehicles with very high kinetic energy ratios, vehicles which achieve very high top speeds, have a large gross weight and with the center of gravity located very high above the ground. The vehicle category which has many representatives of these characteristics are Sport Utility Vehicles, commonly known as SUVs. This paper shows how the market demand for those vehicles has changed over the years in Europe and the United States of America, and why these cars are getting so popular and desirable. It describes why and how SUVs are affected by brake disk failure problems. The paper describes the legal requirements concerning the brake disks distribution in the European Union, the homologation tests required and the consequences of those tests observed in the laboratory. It describes the test methodology used and the requirements that the disks have to pass and shows the results of six types of brake disk tests, which came from chosen representatives from the Sport Utility Vehicles category, conducted on an inertia brake dynamometer in a laboratory. The aim of this paper was to check how the brake disks of modern Sport Utility Vehicles cope with the braking conditions they have to face on (and off) public roads and how these conditions affect their integrity.