Wear Processes in a Mechanical Friction Clutch: Theoretical, Numerical, and Experimental Studies

Mathematical modeling, theoretical/numerical analysis, and experimental verification of wear processes occurring on the contact surface of friction linings of a mechanical friction clutch are studied. In contrast to many earlier papers we take into consideration wear properties and flexibility of friction materials being in friction contact. During mathematical modeling and numerical simulations we consider a general nonlinear differential model of wear (differential wear model) and a model of wear in the integral form (integral wear model). Equations governing contact pressure and wear distributions of individual friction linings, decrease of distance between clutch shields, and friction torque transmitted by the clutch are derived and compared with experimental data. Both analytical and numerical analyses are carried out with the qualitative and quantitative theories of differential and integral equations, including the Laplace transform approach to ODEs. We show that theoretical results and numerical simulations agree with the experimental data. Finally, a numerical analysis of the proposed mathematical models was carried out in a wider range of parameters of the considered system.