Finite element analysis of thermal buckling in automotive clutch plates

A finite element analysis is performed to investigate the stability boundaries of thermal buckling in automotive clutches. It is found that the radial variation of temperature considerably affects the critical buckling temperature. A linear or monotonic temperature profile always leads to a dominant coning mode. Whereas a temperature profile with the maximum temperature located in the middle leads to a dominant non-axisymmetric buckling mode, and the associated critical temperature is typically much higher. The numerical solutions for periodic variations of temperature with multiple waves along the circumference were also tentatively obtained.