Development of a Small-scale Test Bench for Investigating the Tribology and Emission Behaviour of Novel Brake Friction Couples

Testing of brake friction couples is a very costly, energy and time-consuming process, that only allows for a very limited range of material concepts to be considered. Small-scale testing offers great advantages in these areas but often can’t be applied due to limitations in operating conditions and comparability of the results to full-size systems. A novel small-scale test bench has been developed at the University of Leeds which aims to provide the ability to screen friction materials under realistic braking conditions. This study reports on the development process of some of the key features of the test bench. Details of the scaling approach that was used for the sizing of the friction couple are described. Different controlling strategies are presented which can be applied to replicate a variety of realistic braking scenarios. The test bench also incorporates an isokinetic sampling system to measure airborne particulate matter (PM). Some details on the CFD guided development process of this PM capture system are presented.