Research on the nonuniform contact characteristics and thermal behavior of friction pairs involving the radial conical buckling deformation in hydro-viscous drive

Abstract

An equivalent model and a finite element method was established and used for simulating the change of contact state and pressure distribution of friction pairs under the axial pressure to obtain the radial nonuniform contact characteristics and temperature field of conical friction pairs during the soft-start condition. A two-dimensional temperature field calculation model was established based on the results of contact characteristics and convective heat transfer conditions, and the transient temperature field of friction pairs during soft-start was calculated by the finite difference method. Finally, the effects of the soft-start time, deformation degree, and thickness of the steel disk were studied. The results show that the temperature and contact pressure distribution of conical deformation friction pairs exhibit local high-temperature and high-pressure areas during the soft-start process. In the early stage of soft-start, the conical friction element locally contacts in its radial central area. The contact area spreads from the center to both sides as the soft start time increases, and two contact pressure peak areas are formed near the inner and outer diameters with the increase in axial pressure. The degree of axial deformation of conical steel disk has a significant impact on contact pressure. The larger the axial deformation, the pressure distribution would be more uneven. The distribution of temperature field is significantly affected by the contact pressure. It spreads from the middle to both sides, forming high-temperature regions in the pressure peak areas. Meanwhile, the temperature on the outer side of the friction element is higher than that of the inner side due to the influence of convective heat transfer. The duration of soft start also has a significant impact on the maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference. The results could provide a theoretical basis for exploring the correlation between the thermal buckling deformation and torque instability.