Numerical film torque modeling of friction pair in hydro-viscous clutchs

A numerical model to predict film torque of hydro-viscous clutch was developed. The model was established with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The pressure distribution, velocity of flow and film torque were obtained based on vertical-horizontal grooved plate and radial grooved plate separately. The boundary conditions, such as the relative rotation, the fluid temperature and the oil feeding pressure, were also discussed. The results showed that the film torque of two kinds of grooved plate increased with increasing relative rotation. However, the film torque decreased with increasing fluid temperature and feeding pressure. Meanwhile, the film torque of radial grooved plate was less than vertical-horizontal grooved plate at the same condition. Our study showed that the model can efficiently calculate the film torque with complex geometry parameters and boundary conditions.