Numerical simulation of engagement of paper based wet clutch facing

Theoretical analysis was carried out on the engagement process of a paper based wet clutch. The annular multidisk clutch in a SAE#2 tester was chosen as an example. The average flow model on partial hydrodynamic lubrication proposed by Patir and Cheng was employed for the analysis of squeeze motion taking the permeability, the compressive strain, and the asperity contact of paper facing into account. Simultaneously, the equations of heat conduction were solved to calculate the viscosity reduction due to frictional heat generation. The theoretical torque curve agreed qualitatively with the experimental one in spite of the many assumptions made in this analysis.