An analytical thermal model of a railway vehicle brake shoe

Abstract

Estimation of temperature distribution in brake shoes is very important in order to prevent thermal damages such as cracks, fading etc. In this research, the thermal model of brake shoe in a train is introduced considering time-dependent frictional heat load in two modes of emergency and continuous braking. The governing heat conduction equation is solved in polar coordinate by using the method of separation of variables combined with Duhamel integral and a closed-form solution is introduced. Results show the good ability of analytical solution to estimate exact temperature profile in composite and cast iron brake shoes. The ability of the solution for estimation of braking situation to prevent from melting criteria is demonstrated. The composite brake shoe will reach to the melting point of 590 °C in continuous braking at the speed of about 120 km/h and the fading limit in cast iron shoe is occurred after 8 sec in emergency braking mode. The introduced thermal model can be applied as a verification branch of other works and can reduced the huge costs of experimental tests of brake shoes.