A Model for Brake Testing on a Combustion Engine Powered Test Rig

Brakes are very important components on a car, because they help controlling the vehicle’s speed. Especially on fast racing cars, they need to be of high quality. The car’s kinetic energy is converted into thermal energy in the brakes. This energy conversion is realized by friction due to activation of the brakes. The brake pads are pressed onto the brake disc causing friction.
To investigate the behavior of different brakes (i.e., the friction torques induced by these brakes), a test rig on which different sets of brake discs and brake pads can be tested in different conditions is desired. In the Bachelor Final Project ”Measuring brake pad friction behavior using the TR3 test bench” [1], an already existing test rig for CVT’s is converted in such a way that it can be used for brake testing.
For example, University Racing Eindhoven (URE) takes part in the Formula Student-class and wants to determine which disc/pad-combination is most suitable for their racing car next season. This combination should provide enough braking force, but should also be light in order to keep the car’s weight as low as possible. Different disc materials, friction pad materials and also disc coatings can be tested on this test rig.
However, the measurements that were performed on this rig can only be used for qualitative comparison of different brake sets. Due to the fact that the measurements are not very accurate. A lot of the influences on the system are not taken into account and, therefore, the measurements do not provide an accurate prediction of the braking torque.

Source