Modeling of composite multilayer rubber-steel: vibro-acoustic insulation of vehicle brake system

¹ Applied Mechanics and Systems Research Laboratory, Tunisia Polytechnic School, University of Carthage, BP 743, La Marsa 2078, Tunisia
² Engineering of Mechanical Systems and materials Laboratory, LISMMA, ISMEP-SUPMECA, Paris, 93407 Saint-Ouen Cedex, France

^a Corresponding author: moez.chafra@ept.rnu.tn

Received: 16 May 2011
Accepted: 25 April 2012

Abstract

The study of nonlinear dynamic behavior of laminate composed of steel and rubber layers also referred as “Shim”, used for vibro-acoustic insulation in brake system, is investigated. The simulation of the vibro-acoustic nonlinear behavior of Shim depending on frequency, taking into account the large deformations and various nonlinear hyper-viscoelastic laws of rubber are considered. This paper presents a solution to contribute in the identification of the best design of Shim in terms of damping vibration of brake systems, using analytical and numerical method. The choice of the best structure depends essentially on the nature of rubber, on the stacking sequence of materials, on their thickness, on the number of layers and on volume fraction of rubber. An analytical study, with the use of the transfer matrix method is presented. A model on the finite element software ANSYS is constructed. The results lead to conclusions about the best structure and design of Shim in term of vibro-acoustic insulation.