Simulation of on-highway test (chucker) for the heavy vehicle brakes by using FEA method

The aim of this study is to carry a long-term test into the computer environment where it will take just few days by using finite element method to solve. As being usual in designing, the results of the test are used in re-design the components or acceptance of the parts coming from the new suppliers for supplier changes. The brakes of a heavy vehicle run into serial experiments to see its validity according to customer conditions. The most important and the longest one of those tests, Brake Components On-Highway Fatigue Test: Chucker Test, was chosen as a model for simulation. The test is done under similar conditions very close to real one to see the deformation on brake components after a few hundred thousand of cycles where one cycle is simply described such as braking and releasing the brake in certain of time. During the thesis, firstly the working principle of air wedge brake was studied to find the maximum forces acting on the components to use them as boundary conditions in the following section. Then the model of brake was made on Ansys WB 9.0 and found the most critical areas in respect of its stress distribution. According to this data and by the lead of past experiences, the strain gages were stick and the test run. The data was recorded just to observe the changes in gages at any cycle during the test as elongation and converted to stress at the end of experiment to compare the results with the model.