Contact Analysis of a Dry Friction Clutch System

Abstract

The numerical simulation of the friction clutch system (pressure plate, clutch disc, and flywheel) during the full engagement period (assuming no slipping between contact surfaces) is carried out using finite element method. Two types of load condition considered affect on the clutch elements during the full engagement period are the contact pressure of diaphragm spring and the centrifugal force. The study of the pressure distribution between the contact surfaces and the factors affecting it is one of the fundamentals in the process of designing the friction clutch to obtain accurate estimation of the temperature distribution during the slipping period and the contact stresses during the full engagement period. The investigation covers the effect of the contact stiffness factor FKN on the pressure distribution between contact surfaces, stresses, and penetration. The penalty and augmented Lagrange algorithms have been used to obtain the pressure distribution between contact surfaces. ANSYS13 software has been used to perform the numerical calculation in this paper.