79

CHAPTER 4

EVALUATION OF DISC BRAKE SQUEAL

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Though much work has been done on the disc brake squeal, it
requires continuous refinement for the prediction accuracy of finite element
models to provide engineers appropriate tools to design quiet brakes. There
are two main categories of numerical approaches (Ouyang et al 2005) that are
used to study this problem:

1. Complex eigenvalue analysis (CEA)

2. Dynamic transient analysis (DTA)

Although complex eigenvalue analysis has been the more popular

approach used for stability studies of brake squeal, dynamic transient analysis
is gradually gaining popularity. In contrast to complex eigenvalue analysis
which is capable of evaluating only the stability of a system, dynamic
transient analysis is capable of considering squeal as vibration problem in the
time domain, from which dominant frequency components associated with
high levels of noise can be determined through a Fourier transformation.
Comparison between CEA and DTA is given in detail in reference (Mahajan
et al 1999, Ouyang et al 2005).

In the following section, both experimental squeal test and dynamic

transient analysis are performed for validating the findings of the complex
eigenvalue analysis. Three improved approaches are considered in order to
 80

increase the prediction accuracy of CEA results. The correlation between the
two FE methods in terms of predicted unstable frequencies are discussed.

4.2 EXPERIMENTAL SQUEAL TEST

This section describes the use of a brake test rig to investigate the
squeal phenomena of the disc brake assembly, as shown in Figure 4.1. The
purpose of this experimental work is measuring the brake squeal at different
applied pressure and disc rotating speed in order to verify the FE model
results, which will be used for further analysis of the brake squeal. The
experimental work will be presented in three main parts. The first part
describes the brake test rig set-up. The second part explains the squeal testing
methodology. The third part contains the test results.

4.2.1 Test Rig Set-up

The brake test rig can be divided into three main groups: the
driving unit, the braking unit and the measurement facilities. The detail of
each unit is given below:

4.2.1.1 Driving unit

Since the brake squeal occurred at low speeds below 30 km/h and
at low brake pressures below 2 MPa, no large power was required in the
drive. The driving unit consists of a 3.7 kW dc motor that has a maximum
speed of 1500 rpm with a variable speed controller to rotate the driving shaft
at different rotating speeds. Disc brake assembly is connected directly with
the motor through a mild steel coupling and driving shaft, which fixed on the
base of the test rig by two bearing located in between motor and the brake
assembly to ensure the disc is align horizontally and vertically. The brake test
rig used for this experiment included a steering knuckle and wheel hub as a
part of suspensions corner assembly that attaches with the disc brake
assembly.
 81

4.2.1.2 Braking unit

The braking unit is used to apply the required pressure to disc brake
system. The braking torque is applied by hydraulic pressure pump with
braking line fluid which is connected through hydraulic control valve and
pressure gauge. The pressure gauge is used to measure brake line pressure to
estimate the braking force applied to the brake pads.

4.2.1.3 Measurement facilities

The test rig is equipped with available instruments to measure the

required parameters during squeal event. In order to measure braking torque,
a digital watt meter type C.A 8210 is used to measure the power consumption
through the braking process. A digital tachometer type HTM-590 is used to
read the number of rotations of the disc brake. 1/4" Electret-Measuring
Microphone M 360 Class 1 DIN EN 60 651 was used with frequency range
from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and free-field sound pressure level from 35 dB to130
dB. A dynamic data logger (DEWE-201) is used to monitor sound pressure
level and data from the accelerometer located at the brake pad.

Figure 4.1 Layout of the brake test rig

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4.2.2 Squeal Testing Methodology and Results

Before conducting squeal tests, bedding-in process is performed

(according to SAE J2521 test) for two hours at a low pressure (0.7 MPa) and
low disc speed (50 rpm). The purpose of the bedding-in process is to deposit
an even layer of friction material, or transfer layer, on the rubbing surface of
the rotor disc. The operation of the test rig involves starting the motor and
reduces its speed manually by controlling variable speed drive until it reaches
the desired value. A series of squeal tests are carried out at different rotational
speed and different pressure. The speed of the drive axle is measured through
tachometer. The brake line pressure can be applied by hydraulic pump and
controlled by hydraulic valve to a certain value, which can be displayed in
pressure gauge. The brake torque is determined by measuring the power
consumption through the braking process using a digital wattmeter and rotor
speed is measured using a digital tachometer. Then, coefficient of friction is
determined using Equation 4.1.

TB
(4.1)
2P Ap Reff

where; TB is braking torque, P is applied pressure, Ap is area of piston and Reff

is the effective radius (radius between centre of the rotor and centre of piston).

Sound pressure level (SPL) is measured using the microphone

which is suspended by its cable about 500 mm from the disc brake assembly.
Simultaneously vibrations were sensed by an accelerometer fixed on the outer
pad back plate. The microphone output signal was fed to a Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT) analyzer and the SPL spectrum was calculated using
(DEWEsoft). The recorded data is plotted as sound pressure level (dB) against
frequency (Hz). SPL value exceeds 70 dB is considered as a squeal. The
results of the rig testing are illustrated in Figure 4.2. It is found that
 83

experimental squeal frequencies are dominant at 1438 Hz, 2370 Hz, 7442 Hz
and 8557 Hz. Figure 4.3 shows an unstable state leading to a limit cycle, with
strong vibration of the brake system and generate squeal. In particular case for
brake-line pressure of 0.7 MPa and rotational speed of 5 rad/s, it is also found
that there are four squeal frequencies at the same values, as shown in Figure
4.4. This particular case will be used for further study to correct FE results.

Figure 4.2 Sound pressure level versus squeal frequency

4
Acceleration (g)

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
-2

-4

-6
Time (sec)

Figure 4.3 Brake squeal limit-cycle vibration

 84

100

80
Sound Pressure Level (dB)

60

40

20

0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
Frequency (Hz)

Figure 4.4 SPL of brake squeal at pressure 0.7 MPa and speed 5 rad/sec

4.3 COMPLEX EIGENVALUE ANALYSIS

Recently, the complex eigenvalue analysis, which reveals the

squeal phenomenon as mode coupling, has become an accepted approach for
investigating the stability of brake system. Complex eigenvalues result from
the frictional coupling of brake components due to the off-diagonal terms that
arise in the stiffness matrix of the system causing it to be asymmetrical. The
positive real parts of the complex eigenvalues indicate the degree of
instability of the disc brake assembly and are thought to indicate the
likelihood of squeal occurrence. Generally, disc brake components have been
modeled for their connections by so-called friction springs to generate friction
coupling terms. To solve the CEA the coupling mechanisms between the
contact bodies were modeled by linear spring elements in order that the
stiffness matrix to become asymmetric (Liles 1989, Lee et al 1998,
Papinniemi et al 2008, Dai and Lim 2008).

In recent years, researchers have suggested an alternative method

associated with the direct connection of pads and rotor and the elimination of
 85

these "imaginary" springs. The interface pressure distribution is thought to be

important method since the dynamic friction at the rotor/pads interface
normally depends on the local pressure. Therefore, a number of researchers
have investigated the contact area and the contact pressure of disc brakes.
According to Tirovic and Day (1991), Harding and Wintel (1978) first
published results of interface pressure distribution in a brake using a 2-D
finite element model. Blaschke et al (2000) proposed the direct connection of
the rotor with the pads, therefore eliminating the "imaginary springs" which
could result in errors when CEA is performed within a high frequency region.
A more detailed description of the CEA is given in the following sections.

4.3.1 Theory of Complex Eigenvalue Analysis

Complex eigenvalue analysis was first employed on lumped

parameter models (Ibrahim, 1994, Kinkaid et al 2003) and subsequently
advances in computer technology have enabled researchers to make analytical
models of great complexity, with the use of three-dimensional finite element
models (Lee et al 1998, Bajer et al 2003, Abu Bakar and Ouyang 2006, Liu et
al 2007, Trichés et al 2008, Dai and Lim 2008).

In this research, complex eigenvalues are solved using the subspace

projection method. The governing equation of motion for vibrating system is

Mx Cx Kx 0 (4.2)

where M is the mass matrix, C is the damping matrix, which can include
friction-induced damping effects as well as material damping contribution and
K is the stiffness matrix, and x is the displacement vector. For friction induced
vibration, the stiffness matrix has specific properties:

K K Structure K Friction (4.3)

 86

where KStructure is the structural stiffness matrix, KFriction the asymmetrical

friction induced stiffness matrix and the friction coefficient. This
unsymmetrical stiffness matrix leads to both complex eigenvalues and
complex eigenvectors. The governing equation can be rewritten as

2
( M C K) 0 (4.4)

where is the eigenvalue and is the corresponding eigenvector. In order to

solve the complex eigenvalue problem, this system is symmetrized by
ignoring the damping matrix C and the asymmetric contributions to the
stiffness matrix K. Therefore the eigenvalue becomes a pure imaginary
number = i , and the eigenvalue problem now becomes

2
( M K structure ) 0 (4.5)

Then this symmetric eigenvalue problem is solved to find the

projection subspace. The N eigenvectors obtained from the symmetric

eigenvalue problem are expressed in a matrix as [ 1 , 2 ,........ N ] . Next, the

original matrices are projected onto the subspace of N eigenvectors and given
as follows:
M* [ 1, 2 ,......... N ]T M [ 1 , 2 ,......... N ], (4.6)

C* [ 1, 2 ,......... N ]T C [ 1 , 2 ,......... N ], (4.7)

K* [ 1, 2 ,......... N ]T K [ 1 , 2 ,......... N ], (4.8)

Now the projected complex eigenproblem becomes

2
( M* C* K*) *
0 (4.9)
 87

which is solved using QZ method for a generalised unsymmetrical eigenvalue

problem. The eigenvectors of the original system are recovered by:

k *k
[ 1, 2 ,......... N ] (4.10)

k
where is the approximation of the kth eigenvector of the original system.
The eigenvalues and the eigenvectors of Equation 4.4 may be complex,
consisting of both a real and imaginary part. For under damped systems the
eigenvalues always occur in complex conjugate pairs. For a particular mode
the eigenvalue pair is:

i1,2 i i i (4.11)

where i is the real part, and i is the imaginary part for the i th mode. The
motion for each mode can be described in terms of the complex conjugate
eigenvalue and eigenvector:

j t j t
xi Ai e i i
Ai e i i
(4.12)

or

it
xi Ai e ej it
e j it
(4.13)

Using the exponential cosine identity:

ej it
e j it

cos i t (4.14)
2

and disregarding scaling, the displacement can be rewritten as a damped

sinusoidal wave:

it
xi Ai e cos i t (4.15)
 88

Thus, i and i are the real part and damped natural frequency describing
damped sinusoidal motion. If the real part is negative, decaying oscillations
typical of a stable system result. A positive damping coefficient, however,
causes the amplitude of oscillations to increase with time. Therefore the
system is not stable when the real part is positive.

In this research, the complex eigenvalue analysis (in ABAQUS) is

utilised to determine instability of the disc brake assembly. As reported by
Huang et al (2007) that the finite element packages (ABAQUS) has become
quite capable of performing a complex eigenvalue analysis. A new method is
used by Kung et al (2003) and Bajer et al (2003) in order to simulate brake
squeal by combining the nonlinear static analysis with complex eigenvalue
analysis. Four main steps that are required to perform the analysis as follows:

1. Nonlinear static analysis for applying brake-line pressure.

2. Nonlinear static analysis to impose rotational speed on the

disc.

3. Normal mode analysis to extract natural frequency of

undamped system.

4. Complex eigenvalue analysis that incorporates the effect of

friction coupling.

4.3.2 Prediction of Squeal Using CEA

In order to predict the squeal occurrence of the disc brake, the CEA
is performed between 1 kHz and 10 kHz at a rotational speed of 5 rad/s,
applied pressure of 0.7 MPa, constant friction coefficient of 0.5, and without
considering effects of damping. The CEA result is plotted on the complex
plane. Figure 4.5 shows that all modes have zero damping except where pairs
of modes have become coupled and formed a stable/unstable pair. These
 89

results in the eigenvalue with conjugate pairs are symmetrically located about
the Y-axis. In this case, there are five unstable (squeal) frequencies predicted
at 2777 Hz, 7573 Hz, 8530 Hz, 9453 Hz and 9722 Hz.

10000

8000
unstable Frequency (Hz)

6000

4000

2000

0
-120 -80 -40 0 40 80 120
Real Part

Figure 4.5 Eigenvalues extracted from the disc brake model plotted on
the complex plane

4.3.3 Influence of Friction Coefficient

Brake squeal is generally defined as a friction induced instability

phenomenon. Since friction is the main cause of instability, a complex
eigenvalue analysis has been undertaken to assess the brake stability with the
variation of friction coefficient . In the past, the friction coefficient of the
brake pad in real vehicle was considered to be typically 0.35. However, brake
system today possess friction coefficient that is 0.5 or higher, which increases
the propensity of squeal.

In this section, the effect of friction coefficient of the pad-rotor

interface is performed. The unstable frequencies for varying from 0.1 to 0.5
are plotted as real parts versus frequency in Figure 4.6 to illustrate how the
instability increases with friction level. With the low friction coefficient all of
 90

the modes of the system will be stable. As the friction coefficient is increased,
modes can be driven closer to one another in frequency. Figure 4.6, shows
results in the form of the real part as a function of frequency for different
friction coefficients. It was found that with µ equal to 0.2 one unstable
frequency is predicted at higher value. With increasing friction coefficient
values up to 0.5, a numbers of unstable modes are seen to appear. It was
observed that the propensity for squeal increases with higher coefficients of
friction. This is because the higher coefficient of friction causes the variable
frictional forces to be higher resulting in the excitation of greater number of
unstable modes.

10000

8000
Unstable Frequency (Hz)

6000

4000

2000

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Coefficient of Friction

Figure 4.6 Prediction of unstable frequencies with variation of friction

coefficient from 0.1 to 0.5

4.3.4 Mode-Coupling Mechanism

There are many mechanisms of brake squeal, namely, stick–slip,

sprag–slip and mode coupling contributing to brake squeal. Though
considerable amount of research has been done on the squeal problem to date,
it was observed that none of the previous mechanisms alone can explain all
events related to squeal noise. The stick-slip mechanism has not received
 91

much attention as a mechanism for squeal phenomenon. Chen et al (2003)

noticed that squeal noise can occur in regions with both positive and negative
friction velocity slopes. Hence, there is no correlation between negative
friction velocity slope and the generation of squeal. In spite of all of this,
mode coupling is generally recognized to be one of the most significant
mechanisms and the complex eigenvalues analysis of the brake system is a
popular numerical tool for squeal instability prediction (Ouyang et al 2005).
In this mechanism, the instability is caused by friction induced excitation, due
to coupled resonance between two adjacent vibration modes of the brake
system.

The aim of this section is to help further understanding of the

significance of mode-coupling and extend insights into the brake squeal
generation. The FE analysis by complex modes indicate that when two modes
close to each other in the frequency range coalesce under the influence of
friction (become coupled), the system becomes unstable. To explain coupled
mode analysis, FE model is done with varying the friction coefficient to find
whether system modes become coupled and unstable. The influence of
friction coefficient on the stability of the mode at 9453 Hz is examined.
Figure 4.7 shows real and imaginary part of the eigenvalue pair as functions
of friction coefficient µ . It is seen that when µ is less than 0.22 there are two
distinct modes at different frequencies. As friction reaches 0.22 some of the
adjacent modal frequencies start to merge towards each other and form a
complex conjugate pair. At this point, imaginary parts of eigenvalues
converge to one value and real parts start to diverge. This result indicates that
the coefficient of friction of 0.22 is a critical value of the squeal at 9453 Hz
which gives rise to an unstable mode.
 92

9470

Frequency (Hz) 9460

9450

9440

9430
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Coefficient of Friction

(a) Imaginary part

120

80

40
Real part

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Coefficient of Friction
-40

-80

-120

(b) Real part

Figure 4.7 Complex eigenvalues of the 9453 Hz mode as functions of µ

4.3.5 Verification of the CEA Results

In order to verify the CEA result, a comparison between the squeal

frequencies of the experimental test and the predicted results is made. It is
observed that three squeal frequencies measured by experiments are close
 93

with the predicted frequencies obtained in section 4.3.2 at the same operating
conditions. It is observed that the complex eigenvalue analysis does not
indicate experimental squeal frequency at 1438 Hz and predict unstable
frequencies at 9453 Hz and 9722 Hz. Hence improvement of CEA is required
to reduce the difference between numerical and experimental values.

To increase the prediction accuracy and overcome on the

limitations of CEA, Chen (2009) in his recent review stated that considering
negative damping tends to minimize under prediction while introducing
positive damping leads to avoid the probability of over prediction. Abu Bakar
and Ouyang (2008) reported that good agreement between the experimental
tests and numerical results using CEA will be achieved by considering
negative and positive damping. Also (Kung et al 2003, Bajer et al 2003)
suggested that combination of realistic surface of brake pads with negative
damping could improve the prediction accuracy in the complex eigenvalue
analysis. The following section describes the methods of prediction the squeal
frequencies by including the above parameters.

4.3.5.1 Influence of positive damping

The first improvement is carried out by considering the influence of

positive friction damping along with a constant friction coefficient to reduce
over predictions. This damping is caused by the friction forces that stabilise
vibration along the contact surface in direction perpendicular to the slip
direction (Abu Bakar 2005).

It is observed in Figure 4.8, that the complex results are not

symmetrical due to the inclusion of friction damping. Therefore, complex
conjugate pairs are not easily identified. This result is similar with (Kung et al
2004). It is also observed that the values of real parts are reduced and the
numbers of unstable frequencies are also reduced. This is because considering
 94

positive damping lead to dissipate energy from the system and reduce the
probability of over prediction.

10000

8000
Frequency (Hz)

6000

4000

2000

0
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
Real Part

Figure 4.8 Effect of positive damping on predicted results

4.3.5.2 Influence of negative damping

The second analysis is performed by considering the effect of

negative friction-velocity slope. In order to activate this effect, two values of
friction coefficient are considered. The static friction coefficient s =0.65, the
dynamic friction coefficient d =0.5 measured at speed 5 rad/s.

From Figure 4.9, it can be seen that the positive part values of
eigenvalues with a negative friction–velocity slope are generally larger than
those with a constant friction. In addition new unstable frequencies are
generated. The result suggests that the propensity of squeal occurrence
increases in the presence of a negative friction velocity slope. This lead to
minimize under prediction, because of negative friction-velocity slope tends
to add energy to the system.
 95

It also is observed that the prediction of squeal using CEA, which

incorporate negative and positive damping, shows good correlation with
experimental results. However, the numbers of predicted frequencies are
higher than experimental squeal frequencies, which indicate that still some
over prediction of frequencies occurs.

10000

8000
Frequency (Hz)

6000

4000

2000

0
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
Real Part

Figure 4.9 Effect of negative and positive damping on predicted results

4.3.5.3 Influence of real pad surface

The third improvement is carried out with CEA by replacing

perfect pad surface with actual pad surface. The real pad surface roughness is
measured using a portable stylus-type profilometer (Taylor Hobson Surtronic
3+). The profilometer has a microprocessor and a digital scale indicator that is
used to measure surface features. In this study, roughness parameter
considered is surface average height (Ra ), which can be measured directly at
any point on the surface. The brake pad is fixed on the support and the
guiding element is translated along its own axis as shown in Figure 4.10. The
stylus is made to move in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the
 96

brake pad. The surface height of the brake pad is measured by considering the
same node mapping obtained from FE model of the brake pad, as shown in
Figure 4.11 (a). The measured values are used in FE model to update the pad
surface by repositioning the surface height at each node, as shown in Figure
4.11 (b).

Complex eigenvalue analysis is conducted after replacing perfect

pad surface with actual pad surface. From simulation results, it is observed
that static contact pressure distribution between the brake pad and the rotor is
changed due to consider surface roughness, as shown in Figure 4.12. It is also
found that contact pressures are distributed symmetrically and the red colour
indicates the highest contact pressure. When the disc starts to rotate the
contact pressure distributions are no longer symmetric and are now shifted
towards the leading edge, as shown in Figure 4.13.

Figure 4.10 Measurement of pad surface through profilometer

 97

(a) Perfect pad surface (b) Real pad surface

Figure 4.11 FE model of the brake pad

(a) Perfect pad surface (b) Real pad surface

Figure 4.12 Static contact pressure distribution (v=0 rad/s)

 98

(a) Perfect pad surface (b) Real pad surface

Figure 4.13 Dynamic contact pressure distribution (v=5rad/s)

(Top of each diagram is the leading edge)

Thus, the CEA is performed by considering the friction positive

damping, negative damping and real pad surface. From the CEA results, it is
found that there are seven unstable (squeal) frequencies at 1472, 2339, 2773,
5816, 7383, 8706 and 9471 Hz, as shown in Figure 4.14, and their mode
shapes are shown in Figure 4.15. It is also found that the predicted unstable
frequencies are in a good agreement with measured experimental squeal
frequencies for all out-of-plane modes at 1472, 2339, 7383 and 8706 Hz,
while experimental measurement could not record squeal due to in-plane
modes at 2773, 5816 and 9471 Hz. This may be due to the incapability of the
instrument and equipment that are used in the experiments to detect any in-
plane vibrations. Similarly, in the squeal tests which were conducted in
University of Liverpool under a series of operating conditions by James
(2003), squeal frequencies were dominated by out-of plane modes and there
was no in-plane modes captured during squeal events even if they exist,
which was later confirmed numerically by Abu Baker (2005). Therefore, it is
 99

desirable to use another approach to compare with the CEA results in order to
check prediction of squeal at in-plane vibration that could not be measured at
experimental squeal test. A non-linear transient analysis based on FEA will be
performed in the following section to predict squeal and compare its results
with CEA results.

10000

8000
Frequency (Hz)

6000

4000

2000

0
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
Real Part

Figure 4.14 Effect of real pad surface including negative and positive
damping on predicted results
 100

1 - Unstable frequency at 1472 Hz 2 - Unstable frequency at 2339 Hz

(out-of-plane) (out-of-plane)

3 - Unstable frequency at 2773 Hz 4 - Unstable frequency at 5816 Hz

(in-plane) (in-plane)

5- Unstable frequency at 7383 Hz 6- Unstable frequency at 8706 Hz

(out-of-plane) (out-of-plane)

7- Unstable frequency at 9471 Hz (in-plane)

Figure 4.15 Mode shapes for the baseline model at unstable frequencies
 101

4.4 DYNAMIC TRANSIENT ANALYSIS

Dynamic transient analysis (DTA) is a non-linear finite element

method used to determine the dynamic response of a structure under the
action of any general time-dependent loads. This method includes real life
operational conditions and parameters. It is usually carried out to provide the
solution to nonlinear dynamics problems when material nonlinearity,
geometric nonlinear effects or changes in boundary conditions occur due to
dynamic events. There are a few published papers based on FE models only
consider the transient behaviors of brake systems because of highly
computationally intensive and require a lot of disc storage.

DTA is performed using the commercial nonlinear finite element

code ABAQUS /Explicit v6-8. The explicit dynamics procedure performs a
large number of small time increments efficiently. An explicit central-
difference time integration rule together with diagonal or “lumped” element
mass matrices is used; each increment is relatively inexpensive (compared to
the direct-integration dynamic analysis procedure available in ABAQUS
/Standard) because there is no solution for a set of simultaneous equations.
The following finite element equation of motion is solved:

(4.16)

(4.17)
 102

where is acceleration, is velocity and subscript (i) refers to the increment

number in an explicit dynamics step and refer to mid-

increment values. The central-di erence integration operator is explicit in the

sense that the kinematic state is advanced using known values of and
from the previous increment. The explicit integration rule is quite simple
but by itself does not provide the computational e ciency associated with the
explicit dynamics procedure. The key to the computational e ciency of the
explicit procedure is the use of diagonal element mass matrices because the
accelerations at the beginning of the increment are computed by:

(4.18)

where is the diagonal lumped mass matrix, is the applied load vector,
and is the internal force vector. A lumped mass matrix is used because its
inverse is simple to compute. The explicit procedure requires no iterations and
no tangent stiffness matrix. Since the central difference operator is not self-
starting because of the mid-increment of velocity, the initial values at time t =
0 for velocity and acceleration need to be defined. In this case, both
parameters are set to zero as the disc remains stationary at time t = 0. Explicit
dynamic integration does not need a convergent solution before attempting
the next time step. Each time step is so small that its stability limits is
bounded in terms of the highest eigenvalue ( ) in the system:

(4.19)

In this study, dynamic transient analysis of a full brake model is

carried out in order to make comparison with the complex eigenvalue
analysis. The main aim is to see correlation between the two analysis methods
 103

in terms of predicted unstable frequencies. By using dynamic transient

analysis, instability in the disc brake system can be found with an initially
divergent vibration-time response. This time domain information can then be
converted to frequency domain information by using FFT technique.

For the transient analysis, the time history of the brake-line pressure
and rotational speed are used for describing operating conditions of the disc
brake model, as shown in Figure 4.16. At first, a brake pressure is applied
gradually until time t1, after which the brake pressure is kept uniform. The
disc starts to rotate at t1 and the speed gradually increases up to time t2, after
which the rotational speed becomes constant.

Figure 4.16 Schematic diagram of transient analysis simulation

procedure (Abu Bakar and Ouyang 2006)

The DTA with the same operational conditions as in the CEA

section is used to predict the squeal occurrence of the disc brake. Both time-
domain results and frequency-domain results are presented. The brake
application time of 0.2 s is used until the initial limit cycle oscillations is
obtained. The period of simulated brake application requires a long
computing time; it takes over four weeks to complete one simulation. The
analysis was accomplished using Pentium Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB
 104

RAM under Windows platform. Figure 4.17 shows the time history of the
vibration of a node at the outer radius on the disc surface in contact with the
finger pad.

From the simulation results, it is observed that the vibration seems

to grow into a state of limit cycles; this agrees with the squeal behaviour
observed during the experimental squeal test. The result is converted from
time domain to frequency domain using the Fast Fourier Transform
technique, as shown in Figure 4.18. It is found that the frequency domain
results show various unstable frequencies (peak values) and seven of them are
close to those predicted in the CEA with peaks values from 1 to 7 represent
frequencies at 1472, 2339, 2773, 5816, 7383, 8706 and 9471 Hz respectively.

It is also observed that DTA indicates more unstable frequencies

than those predicted in the CEA. This finding agrees with previous
observations by Bengisu and Akay (1994) who examined the correlation
between the CEA and time domain using a 3-dof analytical model. They
found that if one or two modes are predicted by the CEA to be unstable, the
same system analysed in the time domain might already show three or more
instabilities which are due to either quasi-periodic or chaotic behaviour.
Similarly, Abu Bakar et al (2007) developed a FE model of drum brake and
found that DTA generates more unstable frequencies than those predicted in
the CEA.
 105

1
Acceleration (g)

0
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125 0.15 0.175 0.2

-1

-2

-3
Time (s)

Figure 4.17 Vibration response predicted by transient analysis

Figure 4.18 Predicted unstable frequencies by transient analysis

4.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS

In this chapter, the FE model is used to predict brake squeal

through CEA at constant friction coefficient. The predicted results are
compared with the squeal events observed in the experiments. It is observed
 106

that the results of the CEA at constant friction coefficient are not in good
agreement with experimental test. Hence, some improvements techniques are
considered in order to increase the prediction accuracy of CEA results. It is
also found that the predicted unstable frequencies are in a good agreement
with measured squeal frequencies for all out-of-plane modes, while squeal
due to in-plane modes could not be obtained by experimental measurement.

Thus, DTA is performed although it is a very time-intensive to

validate unstable (squeal) frequencies specially in-plane modes. It is found
that predicted DTA results are close well to those predicted in the complex
eigenvalue analysis. Hence the CEA results could be used with higher
confidence level to reduce squeal occurrence, as discussed in the following
chapters.