Improving tribological behaviours and noise performance of railway disc brake by grooved surface texturing

In this work, the effect of the grooved disc surface on the tribological behaviour and noise performance of railway brake systems are investigated by using both a pad-on-disc tribometer and a drag-type brake dynamometer. The experimental results obtained from the pad-on-disc tribometer show that the grooves on the disc surface can significantly affect tribological behaviour and consequently affect noise level and even suppress squeal noise. To further verify the effect of grooves on tribological and noise performance, a new brake dynamometer is developed and accordingly grooves are introduced to the brake disc of this new set-up. The experimental results obtained from the brake dynamometer are well consistent with that obtained from the pad-on-disc tribometer. Moreover, numerical analysis is performed to provide a reasonable explanation on the experimental phenomenon.