Thermal behavior of double arc groove friction pairs in hydro-viscous drive under soft start-up condition

Three-dimensional transient heat conduction equations with boundary-value problems were established for numerical simulation to explore the thermal behavior of double arc groove friction pairs. The heat flux of the contact face decelerated with time, and its distributions were formulated with intensity proportional to the thermal parameters of the materials. Additionally, the theoretical expression of the friction disc’s speed was deduced. Subsequently, a numerical solution was obtained using the finite difference method to predict the temperature field distributions of the friction pairs and to determine the location of the maximum temperature under different start-up times. The results indicate that the friction disc and steel disc are approximately similar regarding the temperature field distributions. However, the temperature and radial temperature gradient of the latter are several times those of the former. The central region temperatures for each rhombus at the surface of the friction disc are higher than those of the surrounding area. The longer the time to soft start-up is, the higher is the generated temperature, and the greater is the radial temperature gradient. The analysis results provide theoretical reference and technical support for the selection of the start-up time by considering the actual working conditions of scraper conveyor.