International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.

4551 (2008) Copyright © 2008 KSAE

DOI 10.1007/s1223900800069 12299138/2008/03806

DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAKE SYSTEM DESIGN PROGRAM FOR

A VEHICLE

S. P. JUNG1),G K. J. JUN1),G T. W. PARK2)*G and J. H. YOON3)

1)
Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University, Gyeonggi 443-749, Korea
2)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajou University, Gyeonggi 443-749, Korea
3)
Hyundai Mobis, 80-9, Mabook-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi 446-912, Korea

(Received 12 May 2007; Revised 21 November 2007)

ABSTRACTIt is quite challenging to estimate the braking performance of a vehicle because the brake system is comprised
of many parts, including a booster, master cylinder, and caliper. Calculation of characteristics such as braking force through
vehicle tests requires much time and money. Therefore, the development of a method to estimate the braking performance of
a vehicle using qualitative methods is beneficial. In this study, a program that can analyze the braking capabilities of a vehicle
such as pressure, efficiency, and pedal travel is presented. The increase in disc temperature during braking as well as the
properties of various boosters can be calculated using the proposed program. Dynamic characteristics of a vehicle equipped
with a Load Sensing Proportional Valve (LSPV) were computed more precisely by obtaining the change in valve pressure
according to the displacement of a suspension system. Since all input and output files are composed in the Microsoft Excel
format, both design data management and database construction can easily completed.

KEY WORDS : Braking performance, Pedal travel, Braking force, Load sensing proportional valve

NOMENCLATURE braking performance should be a primary consideration,

for vehicle safety. The brake system consists of many parts
D : deceleration, m/s2 such as the pedal, booster, master cylinder, valve and wheel
WDF ,WDR : axle dynamic load transfer, kg brake. In order to design a system that satisfies braking
l : wheel base, mm performance requirements, the effect of the characteristics
h : center of gravity, mm of each part on the entire system has to be considered
BF, BR : front, rear ideal braking force, kgf simultaneously. However, predicting the braking perfor-
LPIF, LPIR : front, rear ideal line pressure, kgf/cm2 mance through an actual car test requires a lot of time,
LPAF, LPAR : front, rear actual line pressure, kgf/cm2 labor and cost. To overcome this, most companies and
TPF, TPR : front, rear threshold pressure, kgf/cm2 research institutes studying the brake system develop a
CF, CR : front, rear braking constant, kgf/cm2 targeted program and apply it to the design.
PC : valve cut-in point pressure, kgf/cm2 A great deal of research on braking performance has
FPedal : pedal effort, kgf been done thus far. Puleo (1970) studied the braking force
F0 : pedal loss force, kgf distributing device while Limpert (1971, 1974) and Nakaura
JP, JB : pedal, booster ratio (1977) introduced theoretical and experimental approaches
KP, KB : pedal, braking efficiency to calculate braking force distribution. Researches on the
Finp, Fout : booster input output force, kgf Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) and its ability to guarantee
K : booster servo ratio steering safety was investigated by multiple group, Gatt
R : tire radius, mm (1977), Bisimis (1979), and Ivanov and Belous (2005).
REff : tire effective radius, mm Bosch (2003), which developed automotive parts,
AC : area of caliper, EA researched ABS and introduced the vehicle position control
NP : number of piston, EA theory supported by data obtained through experience and
BF : brake factor experiments. The prediction on braking performance of a
vehicle using computers has also been investigated. Choi et
1. INTRODUCTION al. (2004) researched braking distance with a finite element
model of a tire and Hong and Huh (2004) examined
Among the various driving characteristics of a vehicle, methods that estimate braking force and road friction
coefficient using a dynamic model of a tire. Of particular
*Corresponding author. e-mail: park@ajou.ac.kr interest, Suh et al. (2001) developed a program to calculate

45
46 S. P. JUNG,G K. J. JUN,G T. W. PARKG and J. H. YOON

the braking performance of a Tractor-Semitrailer vehicle.

Kim and Rhim (1992) investigated the effect of pedal effort
on the characteristics of brake devices, and Jung and Lee
(2004) predicted the inclusive braking performance of a
vehicle according to the variation of deceleration and pedal
efforts.
While many developed programs depend on the braking
performance calculations that use the dynamic movement
of a vehicle, they are unable to take into account the rise in
disc temperature and booster pressure changes that may
occur during braking. Particularly in the case of a vehicle Figure 1. Dynamic axle load distribution.
equipped with a load sensing proportional valve(LSPV),
the valve cut-in pressure is calculated simply by rear weight 2.1. Calculating Braking Force
variation according to the deceleration change without con- In order to obtain the ideal braking force, the change in the
sidering the characteristic of the valve. Thus, the results dynamic weight of a vehicle according to deceleration should
tended to differ from those of real experiments. Further- first be calculated. During braking, in comparison with static
more, according to the current trend of a globalization in weight distribution, the front axle weight increases while
the automotive industry, part production and development rear axle weight decreases. The dynamic weight distribu-
of the related technology have progressed all over the tion of a vehicle according to deceleration is shown in
world. Therefore, for more efficient research and develop- Figure 1 and Equations (1) and (2) are axle weights.
ment, it is necessary to develop a design data base and
l hD
utilize it as well as share the design materials of individual W DF = §© ---R + --- ---·¹ W (1)
l lg
parts and the entire system.
In this paper, a program that can precisely estimate the l hD
W DF = §© ---R  --- ---·¹ W (2)
braking performance of a vehicle and establish design data l lg
base is presented. The variation of booster characteristics is
Ideal braking force with respect to the axle weight is as
reflected to analyze the vehicle's braking performance. As
follows.
a result, the error between calculated data and experimental
data is decreased. By computing the cut-in pressure accord- D
B F =W DF --- (3)
ing to the suspension displacement on the basis of the g
structure and operating mechanism of LSPV, the dynamic D
movement of a vehicle equipped with LSPV can be pre- B R =W DF --- (4)
g
dicted more accurately. The user interface of the program is
also reinforced so that designers are able to use the pro- The term braking pressure is used interchangeably with
gram easily. As all of the input and output data are coordi- line pressure. Although it is named differently from brak-
nated into a Microsoft EXCEL format, the design data base ing force, the equations and expressions are almost iden-
can be easily used. Designers can check the resultant data tical. The maximum ideal braking pressure on any roads is
using graphs, dialog boxes, and text files. Furthermore, the B
database may be used to verify interactively whether the LP IF = -----F- +TP F (5)
CF
braking performance of a vehicle satisfies the internal and
B
external regulations or not. LP IR = -----R- +TP R (6)
CR
2. THEORY TO CALCULATE PERFORMANCE Actual braking pressure is the pressure that should be
applied to a wheel cylinder to get the braking force. Brak-
The force required to move a stationary body is greater ing pressure varies according to valve characteristics. Since
than that necessary to keep a moving body in motion. This the weight of a vehicle is transferred to the front axle
is because the friction of rest outweighs that of motion. during braking, front braking pressure must be greater than
If a wheel is locked up because the wheel brake is operated rear braking pressure. Figure 2 shows the characteristics of
too strongly, friction between the tire and the load surface a proportional valve.
equals the friction of motion. If the wheel brake is operated
below this point, the wheel keeps rotating and the friction 2.1.1. No valve
approaches the friction of rest. Basically, braking force In the case that there are no valves in a brake system,
should not be larger than the friction force between a braking pressure is as follows. Where deceleration is D ,
tire and the road surface. Therefore, the maximum braking force is
deceleration of a vehicle is the friction coefficient of the D
road surface. B=B F +B R =W --- (7)
g
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAKE SYSTEM DESIGN PROGRAM FOR A VEHICLE 47

pushing the pad is P(AC NP)KB and the resultant friction

force becomes P(AC NP)KBBF. P is the pressure that appears
when the brake starts. P is also the pressure obtained by
subtracting the threshold pressure (TP), which is the
pressure lost before the brake actually begins to work, from
the line pressure (LP) formed in the pipe lines of a real
vehicle. (P=LPTP) Therefore, the actual braking force
applied to an axle can be written as follows.
R Eff-
Figure 2. Proportional valve performance curve.
By substituting Equation (5) and Equation (6) into Equation
(7), Equation (7) can be written as Equation (8)
F B =2  LP – TP A C N P K B BF --------- (13)
R
2.2. Estimating Disc Temperature
During braking, kinetic energy is converted to thermal
energy and some of this is used to increase the disc
temperature. Rise in disc temperature affects pad friction
coefficient and, as a result, total braking performance is
altered. In this program, simplified disc temperature rise in
a single stop with constant deceleration is calculated. The
B=C F  LP AF – TP F +C R  LP AR – TP R  (8)
Because there are no valves, the front braking pressure is
the same as the rear braking pressure as in Equation (9).
D where V0 is the initial velocity of a vehicle, U is disc
W --g- +C F TP F +C R TR R
LP AF =LP AR = -------------------------------------------------- (9)
CF + CR
2.1.2. Pressure valve
Before the cut-in point, just as in the previous case with no
valves, LPAF=LPAR. After the cut-in point, pressure is split as
shown in Equation (10).
equation is
2
Q W DF V 0 /4g-
'T= --------- = ----------------------- (14)
UQ c UQ c
density, Q is disc volume and c is specific heat of a disc. In
this equation, it is assumed that the braking process occurs
only by the friction force between a pad and a disc and total
kinetic energy is used to increase the disc temperature.
Although this equation cannot give the exact temperature
rise, it offers a good estimation of disc temperature changes.
A method to quantitatively calculate the relationship bet-
LP AR =tan T  LP AF – P C +P C
During braking, the actual braking force generated by
brake devices equipped with a caliper is shown in Figure 3.
The moment equilibrium equation at the center (O) of a tire
is
¦M O =RF B – R Eff F C =0
where FC is the caliper force and FB is the actual braking
force. Thus actual braking force is
R Eff-
F B =F C -------
R Ratio
Here, the caliper force refers to the friction force generated
by the wheel cylinder between the pad and the disc. If
pressure (P) is applied to a wheel cylinder, the force
(10) ween pad friction coefficient and disc temperature without
use of 3D thermal analysis has not been developed thus far.
As a result, the change of the pad friction coefficient
according to the variation of disc temperature should be
obtained through the dynamo test or real car test. Once a
data base on the pad friction coefficient is prepared, the pad
(11) friction coefficient corresponding to a particular disc
temperature can be found, and subsequently, more accurate
braking performance can be estimated.
2.3. Booster Characteristic Changes according to Vacuum
(12)
Pedal effort, which is the force generated when driver
pushes a pedal, ranges regularly from 0 kgf to 70 kgf. The
force transferred through a pedal is amplified by a booster.
Considering pedal loss force, pedal ratio and pedal effici-
ency, the booster input force is
Figure 3. Brake force on the wheel with the caliper brake.
F inp =  F Pedal – F 0  J P K P (15)
There is no output force until the booster input force
surpasses the booster spring's resist force, F1 as shown in
Figure 4. At the moment the input force is greater than F1,
the output force rises remarkably. During the next period,
the output force increases as much as the product between
the booster ratio and booster efficiency. From F2 in Figure
4, when the booster's amplifying action ends, an output
48 S. P. JUNG,G K. J. JUN,G T. W. PARKG and J. H. YOON
Figure 4. Booster property curve I.
force that is proportional to the booster ratio is generated
and this is called booster fail. The equations corresponding
to each situation are as follows.
2.3.1. Booster assist (Servo assist)
ཛ Finp<F1
Fout=0
ཛྷ F1d Finp<F2
Fout=K(FinpF1)+Jump
ཝ Finp >F2
Fout=JB(FinpF2)+F3
2.3.2. Booster fail (Servo Fail)
The position of the knee point changes according to the
vacuum ratio of the booster inside. The knee point is
calculated by booster design parameters, vacuum ratio and
jump-in force.
In the case of a vacuum booster, when there is no pedal
effort originated by a driver, the inside of the booster is
normally kept in a vacuum state. However, the vacuum
ratio of a booster inside can be changed. The inner pressure
of a booster is applied as a resistant force when the outside
air is inhaled into inside, which seriously affects boosting
operation. The booster property curve according to the
Figure 5. Booster property curve II.
Figure 6. Braking force curve of a vehicle equipped with P-
Valve and LSPV.
vacuum ratio is presented in Figure 5.
2.4. Calculating the Dynamic Characteristics of the Vehicle
Equipped with LSPV
For vehicles that experience a significant weight changes
when they are fully laden versus slightly loaded, the brak-
ing pressure transmitting to the wheel in response to the
variation of rear axle weight is controlled by a load sensing
proportioning valve (LSPV).
Figure 6 shows the difference in the braking force bet-
ween a vehicle equipped with pressure valve and a vehicle
equipped with load sensing pressure valve. In this figure,
IBFL means ‘Ideal Brake Force at Laden’, IBFU means
‘Ideal Brake Force at Unladen’ and ABF means ‘Actual
Brake Force’. Actual braking force of a vehicle equipped
with a p-valve remains constant regardless of vehicle’s
weight. However, when a vehicle is equipped with LSPV,
the actual braking force is adjusted according to the vehicle
weight. In order to obtain the knee point pressure of LSPV,
the variation of rear axle weight according to deceleration
should be calculated using Equations (1) and (2). Then, the
suspension displacement according to the rear axle weight
change has to be computed by using the suspension stiff-
ness
'x='W/k (16)
where 'x is the suspension displacement, k is the spring
stiffness and 'W is the vehicle weight. Finally, on the basis
of inner structure and operating mechanisms of LSPV, the
knee point pressure is measured according to the suspen-
sion displacement.
3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROGRAM
3.1. Structure of the Program
The program consists of three parts. The first part, the pre-
processor, feeds data into the program and calculates the
properties of the disc and booster before getting input
design parameters of a vehicle and the brake system
components. Second, the solver analyzes all data. Lastly,
the post-processor presents the resultant data such as graphs,
dialog boxes and text files. In addition, using the post-pro-
cessor, output files in the MS-EXCEL format for reporting
can be automatically printed. The total structure of the
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAKE SYSTEM DESIGN PROGRAM FOR A VEHICLE
Figure 7. Structure of the program and analyzing process.
Figure 8. Data input panel.
program is presented in Figure 7.
3.2. Pre-processor
The input data includes vehicle data, front/rear/parking
brake data, booster data, master cylinder data, valve data
and required fluid data. Since all of the input files are in
MS-EXCEL format, it is very useful to manage the design
data and construct a data base. The input data can also be
saved in the MS-EXCEL format. Figure 8 shows the entire
feature of the data input panel.
3.3. Solver
The program computes various braking performances with
input data from the pre-processor. The analysis is done
according to deceleration and pedal effort. The calculation
results with respect to deceleration include weight distribu-
tion, braking force, braking pressure, stopping distance and
so forth. In this program, deceleration ranges from 0 g to
1.2 g with a step of 0.01 g. The procedure to obtain actual
49
Figure 9. Process to calculate braking force and line
pressure from deceleration input.
Figure 10. Process to calculate deceleration from pedal
effort input.
braking force according to deceleration is presented in
Figure 9. On the other hand, the results with respect to
pedal effort include deceleration, line pressure, and pedal
travel. When the program estimates pedal travel, fluid data
is required. The procedure to obtain deceleration according
to pedal effort is presented in Figure 10. Calculating the
dynamic characteristics of a vehicle with LSPV is done
through an independent dialog box.
4. VERIFYING AND ANALYZING RESULT DATA
Of the various resultant graphs, the braking force/pressure
distribution curve, the EEC braking curve, braking effici-
ency curve and the rear axle weight distribution curve are
50 S. P. JUNG,G K. J. JUN,G T. W. PARKG and J. H. YOON
Figure 11. Four-axis chart.
drawn according to deceleration. However, the deceleration
curve, line pressure distribution curve and pedal travel curve
are drawn with respect to pedal effort. As shown in Figure
11, the 4-axis chart shows the relationship between pedal
effort, booster input/output force, and line pressure, simu-
Figure 12. Result graphs.
ltaneously. The designer can overlap the curves and change
axis settings. Also, the maximum values of each axis are
rescaled automatically according to the maximum data of
each curve.
In addition, all result data can be checked as text files
and the braking performance results on passenger cars and
commercial cars are able to be verified numerically
through another dialog box. Some output graphs are pre-
sented in Figure 12.
Force distribution and pressure distribution represent the
ideal/actual braking force curve and the ideal/actual
braking pressure curve when a vehicle is fully laden and
slightly laden respectively. Pedal effort versus line pressure
shows braking pressure when the pedal effort varies from 0
kgf to 70 kgf. Like the braking pressure curve, the variation
of the line pressure was presented when the booster was
working and was not working, as well as when a vehicle is
fully and slightly laden.
Besides overlapping, designers are able to analyze resul-
tant data easily because all of data can be verified and
rectified quantitatively. In particular, since graphs are
updated as soon as correcting input data, users are able to
design a brake system more effectively.
In Table 1, some of the estimated data calculated from
the program and the real car test resultant data are com-
pared. One of the main reasons why errors occurred is that
the vacuum booster pressure changes due to the engine
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAKE SYSTEM DESIGN PROGRAM FOR A VEHICLE 51

Table 1. Comparison between estimated data and experimental data.

Braking characteristics Regulation Estimated Test Error
0.6 g <12 kgf 9.6 9.7 1%
Pedal effort
0.3 g <6 kgf 5.2 5.4 3.8%
Unladen
0.6 g <62 mm 48 51 6.3%
Pedal travel
0.3 g <43 mm 36.7 37 0.8%
20 kgf <75 mm 75.2 70.2 6.6%
Travel laden
50 kgf <95 mm 88.6 87.1 1.7%

intake manifold pressure are not reflected automatically. In
this program, the air flows from the outside to the vacuum
booster and the air flows from the vacuum booster to the
engine intake manifold are not considered. Thus, the errors
presented in Table 1, seem to be affected by the engine
RPM and vehicle speed. However, the maximum error
ratio between the estimated results and experimental results
is only 6.3 percents. Therefore, the developed program is
proven to produce reasonable prediction data of the braking
performance of a vehicle.
5. CONCLUSION
In this research, a program that estimates braking per-
formance of a vehicle was developed and the basis to esta-
blish a design data base was presented. Using this program,
it is easy to verify elements of braking performance such as
braking force, braking pressure, braking efficiency, and
LSPV dynamic characteristics. In addition, since the design
data of the brake system’s components and braking charac-
teristics are managed as using MS-EXCEL files, each com-
ponent of the brake system can be inserted into or separated
from the whole system independently and designers can
verify the changes of braking performance at a glance.
Furthermore, the design data of the brake system can be
used to make other parts or systems of a vehicle as base
materials. The input panel and graphs of the program are
made by commercial softwares that support many conveni-
ent and powerful functions. With this software, users can
design a brake system quickly, easily and efficiently. Final-
ly, the brake system could be designed more efficiently if
the program could analyze the braking performance of the
latest brake system by adding ABS and TCS control logic
and utilizing an algorithm that could apply proper braking
pressure to the wheel cylinder after predicting the road-tire
friction coefficient.
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