Dynamics modeling and simulation analysis of wet clutch considering spline pair

Abstract

Purpose During the operation of a wet clutch, there are fluctuations in speed and torque, which have an impact on the stability of the clutch and the strength of the friction plate and the spline pair of the dual steel plate. The purpose of this study is to investigate the vibration characteristics of the wet clutch and the dynamic load characteristics of the spline pairs. Design/methodology/approach The spline pair model is established by the piecewise linear function method, and on this basis, dynamic equations considering the spline pair of dual steel plates and friction plates are established. Considering that the wet clutch has multiple spline pairs, an equivalent model of the number of teeth and the equivalent model of the tooth width were proposed, and the Runge-Kutta numerical method was used for the wet clutch for these two models. Findings The research results show that the equal tooth number model has greater meshing stiffness and smaller fluctuation than the constant tooth width model, which shows that increasing the meshing stiffness of the system is beneficial to reduce system fluctuation and improve system stability. Research limitations/implications The friction plate has the system that multiple splines are independent of each other, which is relatively complicated. Therefore, an equivalent calculation is performed on multiple pairs of steel plates (friction plates) to simplify the calculation of the spline pairs. Social implications This paper provides a theoretical basis for further dynamic characteristics analysis of wet clutch and reducing fluctuation of speed and torque. Originality/value Dynamic equation considering the spline pair of the dual steel plates and the friction plates is established to study the vibration characteristics of the wet clutch and the dynamic load characteristics of the spline pair, etc. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-03-2023-0078/