Brake system load distribution study — MATLAB approach

I analyzed the brake balance of a FSAE car using a MATLAB script.

Photo by Philip Myrtorp on Unsplash

When I was part of the Formula Student team of Politecnico di Torino, I was working on the sizing of the braking system of a race car.

As an Automotive Engineering student, I already knew the concepts of vehicle dynamics and brake systems. Still, the books won’t give you an actual recipe for applying those to a real system.

How do you choose the dimensions for the brake calipers and pistons for a Formula SAE car? Well, there’s a lot to consider for this, which includes basic geometric constraints (how much space is available?) and weight limits (is there an unsprung mass design target?), and of course, the target deceleration that the car needs to achieve.

Schematic diagram of a braking system — FSAE/ Formula Student car. Image by the author.

On top of this, there’s also the need to have a “balanced” distribution of the braking forces. This is the so-called brake load repartition, which basically answers the question

“How much braking force will be available on the rear axle, when applying this much braking force on the front one?”