Thermal stress analysis for a disk brake of railway vehicles with consideration of the pressure distribution on a frictional surface

In this study, we performed thermal stress analyses on a ventilated disk brake with a three-dimensional model for two cases (whether the pressure distribution on a contact surface is uniform or not). A pressure distribution analysis was performed to determine the pressure distribution on the contact surface. Then, by using the results that were obtained from the pressure distribution analyses, we performed thermal stress analyses for each case. Finally, we have found that the spots where the maximum thermal stresses occur in the case with a variable pressure distribution are similar with the region where fatigue cracks exist in an actual disk brake.