Numerical and experimental research on engagement process of wet multi-plate friction clutches with groove consideration

A numerical model is established to investigate the effects of the influencing factors such as design parameters and operating conditions on the performance and behavior of the engagement process of the wet clutch based on the Navier–Stokes equations, contact mechanics, and heat transfer theory. A finite element contact model called KE contact model is used to analyze the rough contact during engagement process and thermal effect on the viscosity is considered based on heat transfer theory. The integration of the grooving into the simulation and the method of coupled finite element by domain decomposition of groove and ungrooved areas are put forward to facilitate the analysis. The experimental results agree well with the numerical model which takes the normal pressure, the temperature of ATF, relative revolution speed, the permeability and the groove geometry into account. The results of numerical simulation and the experiment indicate that the applied pressure not only affects the engagement time, but also has influence on the value of the engagement torque. Besides, the engagement time is roughly proportional to the relative revolution speed. The influencing factors such as the temperature of ATF, the permeability, grooves, the torque judders and effects of PID control parameters are also discussed in the paper. The performance and behavior of the engagement of the wet clutch were studied by two methods of numerical calculation and experimental research, which make the working process of the wet clutch more detailed.