Surface Topography and Wear Dynamics of Brake Pads

The boundary layer dynamics of brake systems is characterized by the growth and destruction of hard and friction intensive patterns on the brake pad. These mesoscopic “patches” essentially determine the brake’s global friction- and wear behaviour. That paper shows, how, based on this theory, global phenomena can be simulated with an innovative dynamic friction law within different timescales. Subsequently a Cellular Automaton model is extended by the definition of additional inner variables describing a three-dimensional surface topography of brake pads. This model is applied to a longtime-simulation of the profile changing and a simulation regarding varying external loads. These results are compared to microscope-measurements of pads after different loading procedures which have a significant impact to the height profile.