Guidelines for numerical vibration and acoustic analysis of disc brake squeal using simple models of brake systems

Brake squeal has become of increasing concern to the automotive industry but guidelines on how to confidently predict squeal propensity are yet to be established. While it is standard practice to use the complex eigenvalue analysis to predict unstable vibration modes, there have been few attempts to calculate their acoustic radiation. Here guidelines are developed for numerical vibration and acoustic analysis of brake squeal using models of simplified brake systems with friction contact by considering (1) the selection of appropriate elements, contact and mesh; (2) the extraction of surface velocities via forced response; and (3) the calculation of the acoustic response itself. Results indicate that quadratic tetrahedral elements offer the best option for meshing more realistic geometry. A mesh has to be sufficiently fine especially in the contact region to predict mesh-independent unstable vibration modes. Regarding the vibration response, only the direct, steady-state method with a pressurised pad and finite sliding formulation (allowing contact separation) should be used. Comparison of different numerical methods suggest that a obroadband fast multi-pole boundary element method with the Burton-Miller formulation would efficiently solve the acoustic radiation of a full brake system. Results also suggest that a pad lift-off can amplify the acoustic radiation similar to a horn effect. A horn effect is also observed for chamfered pads which are used in practice to reduce the number and strength of unstable vibration modes. These results highlight the importance of optimising the pad shape to reduce acoustic radiation of unstable vibration modes.