Thermal-Fluid-Solid Coupling Simulation and Oil Groove Structure Optimization of Wet Friction Clutch for High-Speed Helicopter

Abstract

Wet friction clutch is the key functional component of the high-speed helicopter variable-speed transmission system, which is used to change the power transmission path. In the engagement process of wet friction clutch, the driving/driven disc will produce drag torque under the shearing of lubricating oil, which reduces the transmission efficiency. This unnecessary drag torque reduces efficiency and increases clutch temperature. The temperature increase promotes the wear of gears and bearings and the aging deformation of friction plates, which leads to local wear and reduces the service life of the clutch. From the principle of wet friction clutch, the oil groove structure is directly related to the drag torque and the temperature rise of friction disc. It is very important for the long-distance flight and service life of high-speed helicopters to obtain the groove structure with low drag torque and low temperature rise. In order to solve this problem, taking the wet friction clutch of a high-speed helicopter as the research object, based on the radial and annular compound groove, the thermal-fluid-solid coupling simulation model of the wet friction clutch is established to obtained the flow characteristics and temperature field distribution of the lubricating oil in the friction disc oil groove, and to analyze the influence law of the oil groove structure parameters on the drag torque and temperature field. In order to improve the transmission efficiency and the service life of friction disc, Taguchi experiment and non-dominated neighborhood immune algorithm were used to optimize the structural parameters of the oil grooves. The comparison results show that the optimized structural can effectively reduce the drag torque and the temperature rise. This work can provide a theoretical reference for the structure design of a wet friction clutch.