Sports cars need efficient brake cooling as they shall perform well during hard driving conditions, like for example race track driving. Most sports cars use ducts that capture ambient airflow and directs this flow over the brakes to improve the cooling.
This project was conducted in cooperation with Koenigsegg Automotive AB and aims to develop more efficient brake cooling ducts for their cars. Computational Fluid Dynamics was used to analyse the convective cooling of the brake disc and the pads.
First was the cooling with the previously used ducts analysed in order to establish a reference. Then new concepts were created, analysed and developed in an iterative process. A design is proposed, which have the inlet in the centre of the wheel axle and that directs the air through radial channels to the brake disc.
The simulations indicate that the proposed design results in 14% higher heat transfer rate compared to the previously used cooling solution. In addition to the cooling ducts, some passive cooling devices were also simulated. Simulations with these in combination with the proposed design, indicate up to 25% increase in heat transfer rate, but this cannot be fully confirmed due to limitations in the simulation model.
Source: Halmstad University
Author: Lindgren, Arne
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