Brake Calculations

There are many books on brake systems but if you need to find a
formula for something in particular, you never can. This page pulls
them together with just a little explanation. They should work for
any two axle vehicle but it's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to verify them.
Use them at your risk.....

VEHICLE DYNAMICS
Static Axle Load Distribution
Relative Centre of Gravity Height
Dynamic Axle Loads (Two Axle Vehicles Only)

STOPPING THE VEHICLE

Braking Force
Wheel Lock
Brake Torque

FOUNDATION BRAKE
Disc Effective Radius
Clamp Load
Brake Factor
GENERATING BRAKING
System Pressure
Servo Booster
Pedal Force

REAL LIFE DECELERATION & STOPPING DISTANCE

BRAKE HEATING
Stop Energy
Kinetic Energy
Rotational Energy
Potential Energy
Braking Power
Dry Disc Temperature Rise
Single Stop Temperature Rise
Fade Stop Temperature Rise

PARKING ON AN INCLINE
Axle Loads
Traction Force

LOSSES FROM CABLE OPERATED BRAKES

HYDRAULIC BRAKES
Brake Fluid Volume Requirements
Foundation Brake Requirements
Pads Compressibility
Rubber Hose Expansion
Steel Pipe Expansion
Master Cylinders Losses
Fluid Compression

DYNAMOMETER INERTIA

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 VEHICLE DYNAMICS

Static Axle Load Distribution

Note: this changes with the loading of the vehicle so laden and
unladen figures are often different.

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Relative Centre of Gravity Height

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Dynamic Axle Loads (Two Axle Vehicles Only)

The changes in axle loads during braking bears no relationship to

which axles are braked. They only depend on the static laden
conditions and the deceleration.
 Note: The front axle load cannot be greater than the total vehicle
mass. The rear axle load is the difference between the vehicle mass
and the front axle load and cannot be negative. It can lift off the
ground though. (Motorcyclists beware)!

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STOPPING THE VEHICLE

Braking Force

The total braking force required can simply be calculated using

Newton’s Second Law.

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Wheel Lock
 The braking force can only be generated if the wheel does not lock
because the friction of a sliding wheel is much lower than a rotating
one. The maximum braking force possible on any particular axle
before wheel lock is given by:

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Brake Torque

Having decided which wheels will need braking to generate

sufficient braking force the torque requirements of each wheel need
to be determined. For some legislation the distribution between
front and rear brakes is laid down. This may be achieved by varying
the brake size or more likely using a valve to reduce the actuation
pressure.

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FOUNDATION BRAKE
 Disc Effective Radius

The effective radius (torque radius) of a brake disc is the centre of

the brake pads by area.
For dry discs it is assumed to be:

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For full circle brakes it is:

Note: the difference is because full circle brakes contact on the full
face but caliper pads are not usually a quadrant but have square
sides (Given the variability of friction the difference is not important
in practice).

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Clamp Load
 The clamping load is assumed to act on all friction surfaces equally.
For dry disc brakes it doesn’t matter whether the brake is of the
sliding type or opposed piston. Newton’s Third Law state every
force has an equal and opposite reaction and a reaction force from
a sliding caliper is the same as an opposed piston one.

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Brake Factor

Ball ramp brakes have a self servoing effect rather like a drum
brake. The brake factor multiplies the output torque.
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Brake Sensitivity

High factor brakes become very sensitive to manufacturing

tolerances and lining friction variations. A measure of sensitivity is
the amount the brake factor varies for a change in lining friction. It
can be calculated:

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GENERATING BRAKING
 System Pressure

Pressure is a function of the required clamp load and the piston

area. Remember on an opposed piston disc brake it’s only the area
on one side of the disc.

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Servo Booster

Servo characteristics are defined graphically. The output will have

at least two slopes but will also have a dead band at the bottom.

Pedal Force

The pedal ratio is calculated to the centre of the foot pad. The
pedal return springs may make a significant contribution to the
overall pedal force. Especially at full travel.

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REAL LIFE DECELERATION & STOPPING DISTANCE

The deceleration used in calculations is a steady state one called

MFDD (mean fully developed deceleration). It assumes the vehicle
is either braking or not. In practice it takes a time for the system
pressure to rise and the friction to build up. This is not the driver
reaction time but the system reaction time. Where a calculation
requires a stopping distance or an average stop deceleration then
this delay must be taken into account. For calculations a linear build
up over 0.6 second is used ie 0.3 second delay.
For testing the following graph show the requirements for
71/320/EEC and ECE R13.
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BRAKE HEATING

Stop Energy
 The energy dissipated in a stop is the sum of energy from three
sources, kinetic, rotational and potential.

Kinetic Energy

Assuming the stop is from the test speed down to zero then the
kinetic energy is given by:-

Rotational Energy

The rotational energy is the energy needed to slow rotating parts.

It varies for different vehicles and which gear is selected however
taking 3% of the kinetic energy is a reasonable assumption.

Potential Energy

The potential energy is the energy gained or lost by stopping on a

hill.

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Braking Power
 Only when the brake is applied (but rotating) is energy being
dissipated in the brake system. Some of the stop energy is
dissipated in the tyre as wheel slip. Managing the ideal wheel slip is
the ultimate goal of ABS development but here assume 8%. The
energy to each brake depend on the number of brakes and the
proportion of braking on each axle.

In order to calculate the power we need to know the brake on time:

The power is then given by:

This is the average power, the peak power at the onset of braking
is double this.

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Dry Disc Temperature Rise

These calculation are based on that given in the following
reference:

Brake Design and Safety 2nd edition by Ruldolf Limpert

Single Stop Temperature Rise

In order to approximate the temperature rise of the disc an

assumption as to where the energy is going has to be made.
Initially most of the heating takes place in the disc, however this
can then be rapidly cooled by surrounding components and the air
stream. The calculation assumes 80% goes to the disc.

Heat flux into one side of the disc:

Single stop temperature rise is:

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Fade Stop Temperature Rise

The temperature rise after repeated stopping can also be

approximated, although so many variables exist it is suggested this
is only used for basic optimisation work.

After a number of stops:

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PARKING ON AN INCLINE

Axle Loads

When parking on an incline the lower axle has a higher load than it
does on the level.
 The rear axle load is the difference between the vehicle mass and
the front axle load.

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Traction Force
 If the braked wheel is very light on an incline then it is possible the
tyre will slip before the brake. Hill hold is usually required with the
vehicle facing both up and down the hill. The traction force required
to park the vehicle is:

Where only one of the two axles is braked the limiting slope is:

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LOSSES FROM CABLE OPERATED BRAKES

Cable losses are not inconsiderable and vary depending on the

number and angle of bends. A typical cable supplier uses the
following calculation to calculate cable efficiency:
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HYDRAULIC BRAKES

Brake Fluid Volume Requirements

When an hydraulic brake is applied fluid is required to move

through the pipes. If the fluid source is a master cylinder it has a
finite capacity. The following components need fluid:-

Foundation Brake Requirements

Brake fluid is required to take up running clearance.

It is also needed to compensate for lack of stiffness of the brake

housing. For a disc brake the following approximation can be used:
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Pads Compressibility

Pad compressibility varies between hot and cold conditions. Worst

case figures are 2% cold and 5% hot at a pressure of 16MPa. The
fluid required is given by:

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Rubber Hose Expansion

The rubber hose expansion coefficient is usually taken as

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Steel Pipe Expansion

Pipe expansion is very small and unlikely to be of interest however

it should be noted that it is proportional to the cube of the
diameter, so using bigger pipe than necessary on a system with a
fixed fluid volume will cause longer travel for two reasons, the
stiffness of the pipe and more importantly the additional fluid
compression losses.
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Master Cylinders Losses

Fluid losses in master cylinders increase with bore size and

pressure. A reasonable assumption can be found by using the
following:

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Fluid Compression

Fluid compression varies with temperature and the type of fluid

used.
The fluid needed to take account of compression is calculated:
 It is usual to allow about 3% for trapped air in the circuits that can’t
be removed by bleeding. This air is squashed totally flat during
braking.

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DYNAMOMETER INERTIA

When testing Brakes on a dynamometer it is important to calculate

the inertia requirements.
Many brakes do not run at the same speed as the wheels so it is
important to understand how the brake will be mounted on the rig.
Ignoring the inertia of the wheels the required dynamometer inertia
is given by

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