TRIBOLOGY DIGITAL TWIN OF AIRCRAFT CARBON-CARBON COMPOSITE DISC BRAKES

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

Friction and wear are two major factors that affect the service life of disc brakes. Carbon-carbon (C/C) composite materials have superior and stable friction properties, which make them suitable for use as friction materials in aircraft and high-performance brakes. This article presents a wear simulation method for predicting wear out amount of C/C brake discs under specified operating conditions. An updated version of Archard's wear equation is used in the contact domain to predict the wear progression of the friction surfaces. COMSOL Multiphysics®5.5 is used to simulate wear by solving the governing differential equations. Frictional heat generation is simulated by considering the effects of heat on the material's thermal properties and resulting surface deformation. Element removal technique is used to simulate the change in disc thickness due to material loss. The wear progression with time is presented, and the wear model is verified using experimental work from the literature.

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