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Detailed Strength Analyses of Drum Brakes Used in Light and Heavy Duty
Trucks

Conference Paper · May 2016

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 OTEKON 2016
8. Otomotiv Teknolojileri Kongresi
23 – 24 Mayıs 2016, BURSA

HAFİF VE AĞIR VASITA KAMYONLARDA KULLANILAN

KAMPANALI FRENLERİN DETAYLI MUKAVEMENT ANALİZLERİ
Hakan Yenerer*, Mehmet Bakır*, Başaran Özmen*
*Mercedes-Benz Türk A.Ş., CAE Hesaplama ve Simülasyon, İSTANBUL

ÖZET
Kampanalı frenler uzun yıllardır temel çalışma ilkesinde önemli değişiklikler olmaksızın otomotiv
sektöründe kullanılmaktadır. Bununla birlikte, kampanalı frenlerin geliştirilmesi farklı araç tipleri ve araçlarda
bulunan farklı dingil tonajları için optimize bir tasarım elde edebilmek için devam eder. Bu çalışmada hafif ve
ağır vasıta kamyon kampanalı frenlerinin maksimum frenleme momentleri sırasında oluşan yapısal deformasyon
ve gerilim dağılımlarının sonlu elemanlar analizi (FEA) yazılımı kullanılarak incelemesi anlatılmıştır.
Maksimum frenleme momentleri araç özelliklerine göre kampana sabit, ileriye ve geriye doğru dönerken oluşan
kuvvetleri firma içinde geliştirilen, çok sayıda farklı araç test sonuçları ile doğrulanmış dâhili bir yazılım ile
hesaplanır. Analizlerde elde edilen gerilme değerleri firmaya ait malzeme veri tabanındaki sınırlarına göre
değerlendirilir. Bu çalışma da ayrıca farklı cıvata modelleme teknikleri gibi simülasyondaki yapısal
değişikliklerin gerilim değerleri ve dağılımı üzerine etkileri gösterilerek gerçekçi model oluşturmanın önemi
vurgulanmaya çalışılmıştır.

Anahtar kelimeler: Fren sistemleri, Kampanalı fren, Sonlu Elemanlar Metodu, Mukavemet analizi.

DETAILED STRENGTH ANALYSES OF DRUM BRAKES

USED IN LIGHT AND HEAVY DUTY TRUCKS

ABSTRACT
The drum brakes are used for many years in the automotive industry without significant changes in the main
working principle. However, the development of drum brakes continues in order to have the optimized design
for different tonnages of axles and different types of vehicles. This paper aims to analyze structural deformation
and stress concentration of drum brakes in light and heavy-duty truck (LDT & HDT) during the maximum
braking torques by employing commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software. These maximum braking
torques in the cases of stationary drum, drum rotating forwards and backwards used in FE-Analyses are
calculated with an in-house software, which was verified with testing results of numerous different vehicles. The
obtained stress values are evaluated based on the limits in the material database of the company. This paper also
highlights the effects of different modeling techniques on the stress concentration of drum brake components by
comparing the results of different bolt models.

Keywords: Brake systems, Drum brake, Finite Element Model, Strength analysis.

developing lightweight high performance

1. INTRODUCTION
Drum brakes are the first types of brakes used
on automobiles. Even after 100 years of first usage,
drum brakes are still used on most of the vehicles.
These types of brakes are mainly used for the rear
wheels of the passenger cars and trucks while disc
brakes are used extensively for the front brakes
because of their greater directional stability [1].
Due to the challenging product development
targets, significant advances are being made in
components [2-6]. The important requirements of
designing the drum brake are following:
• The brakes must be strong enough to stop the
vehicle within possible minimum distance in an
emergency.
• It should have sufficient strength but minimum
weight.
• The driver must have proper control over the
vehicle during braking and vehicle must not
skid.

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• It should be able to be accommodated within
the wheel space available.
• It should have well anti wear properties.
• It should allow the optimum rate of heat
transfer.
The brake drum is usually made from cast iron
and essentially a cylinder sandwiched between the
wheel rim and the wheel hub. Inside the drum,
brake shoes lines are covered with friction material.
The brake shoes are pressed against the inside of
the drum surface by a cam or actuators inside the
wheel cylinders. The inside surface of the drum is
acted upon by the linings of the brake shoes. When
the brakes are applied, the brake shoes are forced to
come into contact with the inside surface of the
brake drum to stop or slow the rotation of the wheel
due to friction [7]. The hub is connected to the
drum by set of bolts and to the rim holding the tire
by the same set of bolts. The hub and the rim take
the load while driving, whereas the drum and the
rim are loaded while braking [8]. Figure 1 shows a
typical brake drum assembly.
Figure 1. Typical drum brake assembly
The hub assembly along with brake drum and
rim as shown Figure 1 is subjected to driving torque
and braking torque during driving and braking
respectively. The application of shoe pressure gives
rise to mechanical loads. In order to check the
design adequacy of the hub under extreme load
conditions, stress analysis needs to be carried out.
Since the analytical solution is not possible due
to combination of loads and varying of contour of
the brake drum, it is necessary to carry out finite
element approach in order to evaluate the exact
stress distribution and make sure that the stress
values are well below the allowable limits.
2. FE MODELLING OF DRUM BRAKE
A comprehensive FE-model of HDT 4x2 rear
axle drum brake is built. Abaqus-CAE [9] is used in
the modeling of the whole drum brake structure in
order to adapt the mesh size rapidly for a better
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convergence of the simulation without redefining
all of the related sets. With pre-processor part of
Abaqus-CAE, it is possible to define the sets of
contacts, interactions and connections directly on
the geometry. The model has over 400.000
elements and over 600.000 nodes.
The drum brake is calculated with geometrical
nonlinearities in order to increase the accuracy. The
linear isotropic material behavior without plasticity
is taken into account during the simulation. The
brake pads are modeled with anisotropic material
behavior. The bolts on the brake drum and brake
carrier are also modeled and the pretension forces
of these bolts are applied with friction in the first
steps of the simulation. The contact definitions are
in a very high amount at a drum brake model and
mostly defined with surface smoothing because of
circular parts. In Figure 2, the component finite
element model of a HDT 4x2 case study is shown.
Figure 2. FE-model of the HDT 4x2 vehicle rear
axle drum brake assembly
The original brake drum that has been used
previously is modified for some functional
requirements. Due to the modifications, the
dimensions and the profile of the brake drum has
been changed. Therefore, it is necessary to check
that it has the same performance under given load
conditions.
3. BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND LOADING
There are three types of mechanical stresses
subjected by the drum brake. The first one is the
traction force created by the centrifugal effect due
to the rotating wheel and no braking force is
applied to the drum. During braking operation,
there are two additional forces experienced by the
drum brake. First, compression force is created as
the result of the force exerted by the brake pad
pressing perpendicular onto the surface of the drum
to slow it down. Second, the braking action due to
the rubbing of the brake pad against the surface of
the drum brake is translated into frictional or
traction force on the disc surface which acts in the
opposite direction of the disc rotation. Rotation of
drum is stopped with these friction forces.
The boundary conditions defined on the FE
model should realistically reflect the loading
conditions on the actual structure. The brake carrier
is fixed from the axle connection points. The drum
brake assembly on actual LDT 4x2 is shown in
Figure 3 for front axle and Figure 4 for rear axle.
Figure 3. Front Axle of the LDT 4x2 vehicle drum
brake assembly
Figure 4. Driven rear axle of the LDT 4x2 vehicle
drum brake assembly
The strength of the drum brake is analyzed for
the maximum braking torques in the cases of
stationary drum, drum rotating forwards and
backwards. These maximum braking torques used
in FE-Analyses are calculated for different vehicle
types with an in-house software, which was verified
with testing results of numerous different vehicles
as illustrated in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Numerical calculation of braking forces
and moments by using in-house software
The in-house software calculates the brake
moment according to the following vehicle specific
parameters for different critical loading conditions.
𝑙𝑙𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 ∶ 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙ℎ 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎
1122
𝑟𝑟𝑠𝑠−𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 : 𝑠𝑠 − 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟
𝐹𝐹𝑁𝑁 ∶ 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛. 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝
𝑃𝑃𝑁𝑁 ∶ 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛. 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝
𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 ∶ 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝
𝜂𝜂 ∶ 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
∗
𝐶𝐶 ∶ 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
𝑟𝑟𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 ∶ 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑖𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢
g ∶ 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎
Calculated Loads in the Simulation of Drum
Brakes:
• Full Brake – Stationary: Drum does not
rotate
• Braking forward: Drum rotates forward
• Braking backward: Drum rotates backward
The rotation of the brake drum is described with
angular velocity in Abaqus as seen in Figure 6.
Figure 6. The rotation of the brake drum which is
described with angular velocity
The rim is assumed to have no circumferential
displacement on the free face. The normal inflating
pressure of a heavy vehicle is 6.9/8.1/10.0 bars
acting radially inwards on the rim. Since the hub is
connected to the drive axle through spline, the
driving torque is assumed to be transmitted to the
hub through the splines with uniform intensity.
Besides the vehicle experiences inertia force, inertia
torque and force are required to overcome air
resistance which is quiet small in comparison with
other loads. Finally, the boundary conditions are
defined differently for every step.
4. DEFINITION OF MATERIAL LIMITS
In this section, brief information regarding the
evaluation methodology of the obtained stress
values is given.
The obtained stress values for each material are
evaluated based on the limits in the material
database of the company. This database is
constructed after extensive dynamometer test bench
experiments. A custom test bench was built to
facilitate the rotation of the brake rotor as shown in
Figure 7.
 cases are scaled with the material limits as shown in
Figure 8. The brake chamber type is considered as
30 and a maximum pressure of 10 bar.

Figure 7. Drum brake dynamometer test bench.

The setup accurately simulates the performance

and temperatures of brake system when it is
exposed to actual operating conditions. As a result,
the material properties and limits at high
temperatures are determined accordingly.
Eventually, the fatigue results of the brake systems
are obtained after a certain number of braking
cycles and validated for many brake systems. The
obtained stress limit values for each material based Figure 8. Stress results (normalized to limits) of (a)
on testing is shown in Table 1. The limits are drum brake, (b) brake shoe, (c) brake carrier.
blurred due to confidentiality.
The overview of front brake stresses is shown in
Table 1. Material limits used in Light Duty Truck Table 2. For the current brake system, brake
(LDT) drum brakes chamber type 27 and a maximum pressure of 8,1
bar, the stresses are acceptable. By the brake
chamber type 30 and/or a higher pressure level, the
stresses exceed the limit.

Table 2. Overview of front brake stresses

In general, the brake drum is made of a special

type of cast iron, which is heat-conductive and
wear-resistant. It is positioned very close to the
brake shoe without actually touching it and rotates
with the wheel and axle. As the lining is pushed
against the inner surface of the drum, friction heat
can reach as high as 600 °C. It has low tensile
strength, high compressive strength and no
ductility. Also, its melting point is close to 1300 °C. The weakness of brake shoe rims lead to a
The wheel hub is to withstand the vehicle load, higher ovalization at the drum and thus high
cornering effect and impact load due to road stresses occur. For higher braking forces, the
undulation. In general, the material used for hub is stiffness of the brake shoes has to be increased to
of forged steel. reduce the load on other parts and to avoid local
plasticity. In Figure 9 illustrates the scaled up
deformation of the brake shoe and the drum. After
5. RESULTS
basic geometrical reinforcements in the braking
The stress results of the brake assembly are system, the stiffness of structure is increased and
obtained using Abaqus 6.13 [9]. The results of three the maximum stress values are reduced below the

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limits.
Figure 9. Deformation of the drum and brake shoe
(scaled up for better visualization)
6. MODELLING EFFECTS
In this study, two models were developed to
simulate the clamping effect of bolted joints in a
simplifying manner. The simplified model was then
compared with the full model regarding result
accuracy. In order to reach a meaningful
comparison, almost all the parameters and analysis
options including mesh pattern and contact
behaviors were chosen to be the same in all the
models.
In both model, the threads of the bolt and the
nut are omitted. First, the bolt head and the nut are
modelled as being cylindrical rather than hexagonal
since the pressure on the sheets is directly applied
by the washers and the meshing of hexagonal
shapes with uniform finite elements is difficult.
Second, the chamfers and the fillets of the bolt are
neglected. Figure 10 illustrates the geometric
simplifications on the bolts.
Figure 10. Simplified bolt geometries for drum
brake stress comparison analysis.
This study focuses not on the bolt but instead on
how the stress and strain states in the brake
components can be accurately determined. The
modifications in the bolt and the nut certainly cause
error in the calculated values of stress in the brake
components because they affect the stiffness
properties of the bolt–nut assembly. The stress
1124
result comparison of the brake components for
original and simplified bolt geometries are shown
in Figure 11. The brake chamber type is considered
as 30 and a maximum pressure of 10 bar. The
results are scaled with the material limits.
Figure 11. Stress results (normalized to limits) of
brake hub: (a) full model, (b) simple model.
Figure 12. Stress results (normalized to limits) of
brake carrier: (a) full model, (b) simple model.
The change in the stiffness of the bolted joints
leads to a different stress tensors at the hub and
carrier. The simple model yield smaller stress
values compared to the full model. However, the
full model with more realistic bolts yields higher
stresses at hotspot regions.
7. CONCLUSION
This paper presents the structural analysis
methodology of drum brakes used in light and
heavy duty vehicles. FE-modeling of drum brake
with Abaqus-CAE is explained in details and the
loading conditions in FE-analysis are shown. Also,
the material database for drum brakes is presented
in order to explain the evaluation of stress values
from the simulation. The limits for the materials
used in the drum brake structure are obtained from
dynamometer testing. The effects of temperature on
the material are evaluated indirectly by
incorporating testing results.
The methodology is utilized for an example rear
axle drum brake used in LDT 4x2 vehicles. The
stress values of different components (drum brake,
brake chamber and brake shoe) are shown. Also,
two different brake chamber types in three different
actuation pressure are compared in a table. The
stress values above the limits are explained with the
low stiffness of the structure, and it is advised that
the stiffness of drum brake could be improved by
reinforcing the brake shoe geometries.
 In the last section, a simplified finite element
bolt models are developed and then compared with
the full model with regard to the solution accuracy
of stresses. It is shown that the modelling technique
of the bolts play a significant role for the evaluation
of the drum brake components.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
given by Team Brake Systems, Stuttgart in carrying
out this investigation and realization of this article
in proceedings.

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