Analytical simulation of influential parameters affecting grooved wet clutches performance underdisengagement condition

Abstract

Innovating new approaches and effective methods to improve the efficiency of mechanical systems in terms of energy losses and environmental effects serve as an attractive domain for researchers and industries. Wet clutches are widely used in power transmission systems in automotive and other tribological mechanisms. The wet clutch has two functional modes; under the engaged state, in which two disks come into contact to each other, and under disengagement the plates are located at a very short distance from each other, and oil flows between them. In disengaged state, the differential speed of driving and driven units causes oil shearing within the clearance which leads to transmission of certain amount of drag torque from the driving to the output shaft. This transferred drag torque is distinguished as power loss in form of heat. The governing physical relation based on continuity equation and Navier–Stokes equations reveals that in a certain rotational velocity, the pressure gradient at the outer radius of the clutch becomes null, and, in this circumstance, aeration occurs that is known as critical rotation speed. Experimental findings provide evidence that geometry manipulation and considering grooves over the frictional disk, reduces the critical rotational speed. But there is a shortage of physical analytical relations to predict the pressure gradient in grooved wet clutches. Therefore, this article is aimed to introduce analytical model to evaluate grooved wet clutches performance in terms of drag torque and critical rotational speed under single-phase flow condition.