Drag torque prediction model for the wet clutches

Reduction of drag torque in disengaged wet clutch is one of important potentials for vehicle transmission improvement. The flow of the oil film in clutch clearance is investigated. A three-dimension Navier-Stokes (N-S) equation based on laminar flow is presented to model the drag torque. Pressure and speed distribution in radial and circumferential directions are deduced. The theoretical analysis reveals that oil flow acceleration in radial direction caused by centrifugal force is the key reason for the shrinking of oil film as constant feeding flow rate. The peak drag torque occurs at the beginning of oil film shrinking. A variable is introduced to describe effective oil film area and drag torque after oil film shrinking is well evaluated with the variable. Under the working condition, tests were made to obtain drag torque curves at different clutch speed and oil viscosity. The tests confirm that simulation results agree with test data. The model performs well in the prediction of drag torque and lays a theoretical foundation to reduce it.