Response surface model of a brake system to optimize structural modifications for squeal noise suppression

In spite of decades of investigation, brake squeal is still an unresolved problem. Many attempts have been made by industry and researchers to establish a general approach aimed at preventing squeal in brake design. Nowadays, the lock-in theory is one of the most accepted approaches for squeal generation and particular attention is given to the dynamics of brake systems. Moreover, one of the main difficulties encountered in studying squeal is the complexity of a real brake system. Thus many researchers approached the problem by conducting experimental and numerical analysis on simplified brake systems, and then trying to correlate the results with theoretical models. In this paper, an approach to identify appropriate changes of the physical properties of a brake system is developed, in order to suppress the squeal occurrence. First a sensitivity approach is developed to discard the less effective physical parameters. These selected parameters are those that can be modified. Subsequently, a simple mathematical model (Response Surface Model) that represents how the selected parameters affect system eigenvalues, can be obtained using Design of Experiments.