Creep—Slip Capture as a Possible Source of Squeal During Decelerated Sliding

Friction-induced vibration of a two-degree-of-freedom mass-damper-spring system interacting with a decelerating rigid strip is investigated. The friction law is approximated by an analytical function to facilitate the analyses and numerical integrations. It is shown that, after a quasi-harmonic transient period, accompanied by viscous energy dissipation, a short period of intensive ‘creep-slip’ vibration occurs, which generates a series of ‘micro-impacts’ on the strip. Because of the impulsive character of such kind of loading, its Fourier spectrum is rich and quite broadband. Using an averaging technique, the ‘normal form’ equations of motion show that the out-of-phase vibration mode absorbs more energy from the decelerating strip when its natural frequency satisfies certain resonance conditions. The study is then applied to an automotive disc brake model to gain useful insight into the generation of squeal. It is shown that the out-of-phase creep-slip vibration (in the longitudinal direction) of the brake pads generates an impulsive bending moment on the decelerating strip (disc rotor). This impulsive load may be considered as a possible source for brake squeal. The technique developed in this paper may be extended to other ‘squealing systems’ including models for geophysical faults (earthquakes).