Road Vehicle Performance:

Braking

TTE 4004
Transportation Engineering
Dr. Scott Washburn
Principles of Braking
 For roadway design and traffic analysis,
vehicle braking characteristics are the
most important aspect of vehicle
performance.
 Braking performance is a key factor to
the determination of:
 stopping-sight distance, which is one of the
foundations of roadway design
 the length of the yellow interval for signals

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

Principles of Braking
 Like we did for determining maximum
tractive effort, we can use a force and
moment-generating diagram (Fig. 2.7)
to determine Fbf and Fbr (braking force,
front and rear).

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

 Principles of Braking
Fig. 2.7

 Notice that this figure is identical to Fig. 2.3, except that the
braking forces have replaced the tractive forces, and are in
the opposite direction because the braking forces are
counteracting the forward motion. Also, ma points in
opposite direction (because this force is counteracting
braking force).
TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering
 Principles of Braking
 Taking moments about the front and rear axles (just
like for max tractive effort derivation), and assuming
cos g = 1 for small roadway grades, the normal
loads on the front and rear axles are given by the
following equations:
Wf 
1
L

Wl r  hma  Ra  W sin g   Eq. 2.23

Wr 
1
L

Wl f  hma  Ra  W sin g   Eq. 2.24

 Grade resistance (W sin g) is negative for uphill grades and

positive for downhill grades
 These equations are identical to their tractive effort equation
counterparts (eq. 2.10 for Wr), except that ‘ma’ is of the
opposite sign
TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering
Principles of Braking
 Also, from summing forces along the vehicle’s
longitudinal axis gives:
Fb  f rlW  ma  Ra  W sin g Eq. 2.25

where: Fb = Fbf + Fbr

 Substituting this equation (2.25) into the previous

two equations (2.23, 2.24) yields the following
equations:
Wf 
1
Wlr  hFb  f rlW  Eq. 2.26
L

Wr 
1
L

Wl f  hFb  f rlW   Eq. 2.27

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

Principles of Braking
 The maximum vehicle braking force (Fb max) is
equal to the coefficient of road adhesion times
the weights normal to the roadway surface.

Fbf max  Wf (front braking force)

Fbr max  Wr (rear braking force)

 = coefficient of road adhesion

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

 Principles of Braking
 Substituting Eqs. 2.26 and 2.27 gives:

W
Fbf max  l r  h  f rl  Eq. 2.28
L
W
Fbr max 
L
l f 
 h  f rl  Eq. 2.29

 To develop maximum braking forces, the tires should be at the

point of impending slide.
 If the tires begin to slide (i.e., the brakes lock), a significant
reduction in road adhesion will result. See Table 2.4 for
example coefficients of road adhesion for various
pavement/weather conditions under max and slide scenarios.

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

Braking Force Ratio and Efficiency
 The maximum attainable vehicle deceleration,
using the vehicle’s braking system, is equal to
g (same derivation logic as for max
acceleration).

 To approach this maximum vehicle

deceleration, vehicle braking systems must
correctly distribute braking forces between
the vehicle’s front and rear brakes.

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

 Braking Force Ratio and Efficiency
 The front/rear proportioning of braking forces will be optimal
(achieving a deceleration rate equal to g) when it is in the
exact same proportion as the ratio of the maximum braking
forces on the front and rear axles, i.e.,
Fbf max
BFR f / r max 
Fbr max

 Thus, maximum braking forces (with the tires at the point of

impending slide) will be developed when the brake force
ratio (front force over the rear force) is:
l r  h  f rl 
BFR f / r max  Eq. 2.30
l f  h  f rl 

BFR—brake force ratio that results in maximum (optimal) braking forces

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering
Braking Force Ratio and Efficiency
 It follows that the percentage of braking force
that the braking system should allocate to the
front and rear axles for maximum braking is:

100
PBF f  100  Eq. 2.31
1  BFR f / r max

100
PBFr  Eq. 2.32
1  BFR f / r max

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

Braking Force Ratio and Efficiency

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

Braking Force Ratio and Efficiency
 Because true optimal brake-force proportioning is
seldom achieved in standard non-antilock braking
systems, we use a term that reflects the degree to
which the braking system is operating below
optimal.

 Braking efficiency is defined as the ratio of the

maximum rate of deceleration, expressed in g’s
(denote gmax), achievable prior to any wheel
lockup, to the coefficient of road adhesion.

g max
b  Eq. 2.33


TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

Antilock Braking Systems (ABS)
 Discussion

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering

 Theoretical Stopping Distance
 Review Section 2.9.4 for derivation details
 Equation for theoretical stopping distance is
given by (assuming V2 = 0)
 bW  K V 2

S  ln1  a 1  Eq. 2.42
2 gK a   W  f W  W sin 
 b rl g 
grade resistance term is + for uphill,  for downhill

where: b is the mass factor accounting for moments of inertia during

braking, given value of 1.04 for automobiles, and

Ka  CD Af
2
TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering
Theoretical Stopping Distance
 Assume that the effect of speed on the coeff.
of rolling resistance is constant, and can be
approximated as V = (V1 + V2)/2 (use this V
in Eq. 2.5 for frl)
 If we ignore aerodynamic resistance (which is
not a big factor in deceleration), we get:
 b V12  V22 
S
2 g b   f rl  sin g 
Eq. 2.43

TTE 4004: Transportation Engineering