Simulation of thermal characteristic of wet shift clutch

The transient characteristics of the temperature field and the stress field on the contact surfaces during the shifting process of a wet shift clutch in the power shift transmission were simulated by a 3-D model of finite element method(FEM) built for the friction pair of the clutch using the nonlinear FEM software ABAQUS6.7. The effect of boundary conditions, frictional contact, thermo-mechanical coupling, and complex grooves in the friction disk were taken into account. Simulation results revealed the histories of the distribution of temperature and stress on the contact surfaces during the shifting process. The temperature and stress are higher in the inner areas of the annular contact surface, while lower in the outer areas. The contact pressure on the paired steel disk is uneven radially with a roughly symmetrical distribution about the center, and its maximum increases with the sliding time. The temperature field and stress field on the friction disk are more uniform than those on the steel disk.