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Automotive Disc Brake Rotor & Dual Caliper Pads Contact (3 Bodies)
Bilateral unilateral Mortar contact between an EN-GJL-250 cast-iron brake rotor sector and two opposing friction pads under 8 MPa hydraulic caliper pressure.
Even clamping pressure across automotive brake pads prevents tapered pad wear, brake judder, and hot-spotting on the cast-iron rotor. Using 3 disconnected solid meshes (bonding = 0, mesh components = 3) with contrasting elastic moduli (EN-GJL-250 rotor E = 110 GPa vs composite friction pads E = 15 GPa), this model resolves simultaneous bilateral Mortar contact on both friction faces of the rotor under 8 MPa hydraulic piston pressure.
1. Geometry & FEA Mesh
- •3 disconnected B-Rep solids (mesh components = 3): 60° rotor sector (R = 45..140 mm, thickness 12 mm) and two 36° opposing brake pads (R = 82..130 mm, thickness 12 mm).
- •Multi-material properties: EN-GJL-250 / GG-25 gray cast iron rotor (E = 110 GPa, ν = 0.26) and composite friction pads (E = 15 GPa, ν = 0.25).
- •Independent tetrahedral meshes: 18,177 elements, 5,126 nodes, and 15,378 DOFs.
- •Two simultaneous frictionless Mortar contact pairs between the rotor faces (z = ±6 mm) and the front/rear pads.
2. Loads & Boundary Conditions
- •Inner mounting hub bore of the brake disc (R = 45 mm) fixed in all directions (Ux = Uy = Uz = 0).
- •Normal symmetry constraints (component = normal) on the radial cut faces of the 60° disc sector and on the caliper guide abutments of both pads.
- •Opposing 8.0 MPa hydraulic piston pressure (~25.6 kN clamping force per pad) applied to the back plates of the front and rear brake pads.
3. Simulation Results & Findings
- ✓Peak contact pressure p_contact = 16.42 MPa concentrated along the inner/outer edges of the pad footprint due to elastic bending of the rotor ring and pad.
- ✓Peak equivalent von Mises stress σ_vm = 14.33 MPa at the transition between the clamped hub bore and the friction ring.
- ✓Symmetric axial pad compression of 6.64 µm (-Z on front pad) and 5.86 µm (+Z on rear pad) with 1,346 active contact nodes across the 3 bodies.
Brake system engineers use WebCAE to evaluate pad pressure uniformity, backing plate stiffness, and rotor coning directly on multi-body CAD assemblies.
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