2011-05-32

Sizing of the braking system of the vehicle used in the Baja SAE
Competition
Bruno Cota
Unileste-MG.

Douglas Arruda
Antnio Filho
Rafael Deir
Bruno Assis
Unileste-MG.

Copyright 2011

Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc

For the vehicle to be allowed to compete, the brakes

must be in accordance with the following requirements:
must be hydraulic, driven by a single pedal, acting on all
wheels, has two independent circuits so that if one system
should fail , the braking force is maintained at least two
wheels. In addition, the vehicle must have a brake light
which conforms to SAE J759 or higher, and thereafter the
drive axis traction brakes can not act through an
intermediate stage of transmission [1].

ABSTRACT
This work consists in studying the scaling of the
braking system of vehicle mini baja of Galileu Team
(UNILESTE-MG), developed for the Baja SAE
competition, according to the rules of the dispute.
INTRODUCTION
The Baja SAE competition is held among higher
education institutions, and aims to build an off-road vehicle
according the rules of the contest. The brake system, the
focus of this work, is requested throughout the competition,
especially in tests of acceleration and speed, endurance,
proof of safety and comfort assessment.

Obeying the requirements of contest and seeking

to build a brake system that meets the needs of the vehicle
and of ambience used by him, this work comprises the steps
executed for the design of the braking system of car racing
Baja SAE, of team Galileu.
DEVELOPMENT

During the competition will be made a demonstration

of braking capacity. For this, the pilot must operate the car
accelerating it in the space marked, by speed enough high
and applying the brake for to lock the wheels. The vehicle
shall be approved which, admittedly, lock all the wheels.

The modeling of the brake system follows the steps

presented in table 1:

Table 1 Stages of sizing

Stages
1
2

Radius of the set

Wheel / Tire rear

255mm

Total mass (Car and driver)

254Kg

Description
Determine geometric parameters of
the car
Specify the dimensions of the brake
discs

Specify the set calipers / pads

Calculate the braking effort

Calculate the effective pressure

system

Sizing the lever pedal

Sizing of master cylinder

Determine fixation of brake calipers

Determine fixation of master

cylinder

Gravitational acceleration

9,81m/s

Maximum Speed

13,88m/s

SPECIFICATIONS DISC BRAKE - Used in almost

all the front brakes of passenger cars and increasingly also
in the rear brakes, this system has decisive advantages
compared to the brake drum [2].

Figure 1- Disk brake (a) Brake caliper fixed, (b)

Brake caliper floating [2].
DETERMINATION
OF
GEOMETRIC
PARAMETERS OF VEHICLE - The following are the
values of the geometric variables of the vehicle Baja
Galileu team. These values support the implementation of
the sizing calculations. The unknowns used in the
calculations that are not in this table will be evidenced
during the work.

The operating principle is the generation of braking

force by friction between the brake pads and the side
surface or trail braking the brake discs, Figure 1. The brake
discs are rotating elements sympathetic to the tire and
wheel and the brake pads are sympathetic to the piston and
housing. The hydraulic pressure brake fluid is transmitted
through the connections to the pistons, which in turn slide
into the cylinder housing and push the pads against the
brake disc surface. The contact between the pads and the
brake disk causes a normal force that counteracts the
pressure of the pistons and creates a friction force that
results in braking the rotation of the disc so linearly
proportional to the pressure of hydraulic brake fluid.

Table 2 Input data of vehicle

PARAMETERS
Wheelbase
Distance from front axle to C.G

VALUE/UNIT
1600mm
749,47mm

Distance from rear axle to C.G

850,53mm

Height from ground to the C.G

463,23mm

Radius of the set

Wheel / Tire Front

The big advantage of disc brake system in relation to

the drum brake is a good performance at high temperatures
between 800 C and 900 C, reached in systems with
brake disc made of alloy cast iron. The expansion of the
brake disk in these situations does not imply an increase in
pedal travel due to its mechanism to self-adjust for
variations in thickness of the disc and insert, no risk of
generating residual compromising braking effort ceased
after the brake application. Another advantageous feature is
the linear relationship between the braking torque and the
coefficient of friction between the pad and disc brake.

255mm

As a disadvantage in relation to the brake drum, we

can cite the higher cost and lower efficiency in the use case
as a parking brake.
Sized discs for use in the car team Galileo are cast
iron and have an outer diameter of 181mm, commonly used
in national scooters. Being an early work it was decided to
use components easily accessible in the market.
SPECIFICATION OF THE BRAKE CALIPERS /
BRAKE PADS - To make the project differently, we opted
to use different calipers in front and rear axles. On the front
axle will use two floating type calipers, are each composed
of a piston diameter of 27.65 mm.

Figure 3 - Forces on a moving baja [4].

The modeling of the braking system of the Baja was
relying on the document [4]. In this paper adopts the model
of middle car, assuming rigid suspension and assuming
rectilinear motion on an incline which makes an angle
with the ground. The assumption of rigid suspension allows
the assumption that there is no movement of translation
along the axis Oz and the vehicle does not revolve around
Oy Then, applying Newton's Law, has, in the notation used
by [5]:

The original project proposed the use of two brake

caliper on the rear axle, however, in order to reduce weight,
we determined a high-performance brake caliper to the rear
axle. The clamp used in the rear axle is fixed type, and will
be housed in the right portion of the gearbox of the vehicle.
The brake caliper has four pistons, including two of
diameters equal to 22.10 mm, and the other two equal to
19mm. The area of the brake pads is approximately 1742.5
mm .

(2)

(3)
Figure 2- Fixing the brake caliper used on the rear
axle (Galileu team).

In equations 2 and 3, K1 and K2 are coefficients

related to the aerodynamic forces acting on the vehicle.
Applying the Second Law in the x direction is clear:

According to [3], the maximum torque for any value

of external radius is obtained when the inner radius is:
ri

0,577

ro

(1)
The brake caliper used on the rear axle, well satisfies
this condition.

(4)

CALCULATION OF BRAKING EFFORTS AND

BRAKE SYSTEM PRESSURE - The figure 3 is a
representation of forces acting on a moving baja. According
the convention of the SAE, the Ox axis coincides with the
longitudinal axis of symmetry of the vehicle, the axis Oz is
the vertical axis and the axis Oy is coming out of the paper.

In the above equation, Cx is the drag coefficient and

"f" coefficient of friction between tire and soil. Of the
previous notations we can despise the aerodynamic forces
and rolling resistance, as these are much smaller than the
braking forces. Assuming further that the coefficient of

longitudinal force on front wheels is x1 and rear wheels is

x2, the expression can be simplified to:

The initial calculations show the time and distance

traveled by a vehicle that comes out of the max speed and
goes to static. Thus, using the parameters in Table 2, and
doing equations 7 and 8, came to the conclusion that the car
covers a distance of 8,48 meters, with an initial max speed
of 13,88 m / s until to static. Proof that the time spent to
accomplish this, uniformly, is about 1,21 seconds.

(5)

The next step is to calculate the vertical forces of

contact wheels (Fz) to determine the forces locking that
tires must carry. Neglecting the aerodynamic forces, we can
simplify the expressions obtained for Fz:

The coefficient of longitudinal force depend on the

speed of the tire, the rubber type, track conditions, the
lateral force imposed on the wheel and several other
factors. Below is the values of x for a given speed and a
certain condition of pavement:

(9)

Figura 4 - Breaking coefficient [6].

(10)

Since you can not control all the parameters that

influence the coefficient of longitudinal force, it was
estimated, being x1 equal to -0.70 and x2 equal to -0.75.

The values of x1 and x2 (Distance from the center

of the front wheels / rear back to the line of action of the
contact force of the front tires / rear ) are equal to 0.072
meters.

Assuming now that the coefficients xi not vary with

speed, so you can integrate the differential equation above:

He met then Fz1 =1939.23 N and Fz2 = 2047.54 N , It

is observed that the values are very approximate.
Already calculated the forces Fz1 and Fz2, one can
determine the contact forces between the tire and the
ground, thereby setting the torque that the brake calipers are
applied to the brake discs. So if Rl1 and Rl2 are the
effective radii of scrolling, ie they represent the distance
between the centers of the wheels and the contact surfaces
of the tires with the terrain, we have the braking torques
applied to the front axle, T1, and rear, T2, are given by:

(6)
That way, you get the time needed to decelerate the
vehicle in uniform:

(7)
Integrating the equation 7, we obtain distance traveled
during braking:

(11)
Being Rl1 and Rl2 equal to 255mm, the braking
torques, calculated using the matrix xx, show that the front
axle has 346 152,3 N.mm and 391 590,75 N.mm to the rear

(8)

axle. These are the torques that the brake calipers shall
apply to the brake discs.

For the front axle where it was used two brake

calipers, the value of the pressure exerted by the friction
material on each disc was 13,35 MPa. In contrast, for the
rear axle, which is situated just a brake caliper, the value
found in the equation xx, was multiplied by two since this
pinch will do the job of two. The value was 27,84 MPa,
about twice the pressure found for the front axle.

The braking torques determined in the equation xx are

the result of the pressure that the brake pads exert on the
brake disc. You can now determine the forces that brake
fluid must exert on the elements of the system to brake the
car. For the calculations, it is considered a floating caliper
type, as illustrated in Figure 1(b). The pressure of brake
fluid that comes from the master cylinder pushes the piston
that presses the brake pad, supportive to him, against the
disc. As the collet is free to move in the axial direction, for
reaction to another brake pad is pulled out and came into
contact with the disc in motion.

Therefore, integrating the pressure over the area of

brake pad, have the force on each disc:

(14)

There are two ways of evaluating the forces acting on

a system of brake calipers, constant wear or constant
pressure. The second hypothesis is approaching a new
brake pad. When the brake pads begin to wear out, are close
to the first condition. Assuming that the wear is uniform,
and assuming that the brake pads have a shape of a circular
sector, radial brake pads, the torque applied to each disk in
the opposite direction of rotation of the wheels is expressed
by the following equation:

. Each disc gets a front axle strength of 9119.5 N, and

the disc on the rear axle gets a force of 21 193 N. This is
the force of contact pads with the disc. In a disk driven by
two brake pads, each one has half as strong.
Analyzing figure 1(b), a floating caliper, it is noted
that the fluid exerts a force of magnitude F = pb x Ae drive
both the plunger and the body of the brake caliper. Then, to
obtain the required pressure in the fluid, just divide the
force obtained by the equation 14 wet area of the piston.

(12)

(15)

Twice the torque found in this equation should be

expressed in the equation equal to 11.

The calculation 15 was performed normally and met

an effective pressure of 7,59 MPa for the front system.
However, for the rear brake caliper the calculation has
changed to fit the same. The brake caliper in question is
special to have four cylinders of action, they are of different
areas. Therefore, the calculation shown in the equation has
changed to:

To maximize the torque applied / applied force was

assumed that ro coincides with the radius of the disc brake,
Rd. It was alleged further that the pressure and the
coefficient of friction between the pads and the disc are the
same for both front brakes as for the rear. Isolating the
contact pressure of the equation 12, we have:

Pb=

(Ae

Ae)

(16)
After achieving this, we found an effective pressure of
31,78 MPa. A pressure of approximately four times greater
than that required by the front calipers.

(13)
This pressure, in turn, is the pressure exerted by the
friction material on each disc. It is observed that the torque
equation 13, above, is still the torque on each disk, ie, the
total braking torque, is calculated as twice this result.

DIMENSIONING SYSTEM LEVER OF PEDAL

AND BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER - The system design
of the brake pedal was made following the basic
instructions in force multiplication using levers and
measures used in passenger cars today. This strategy was
adopted to approximate the model of reality, without losing
the item ergonomics and comfort, since it is a pioneering
work in the Galileu team.

The higher the pressure with which the brake calipers

are applied against the disk, the greater the effect of the
brakes [7].

The ratio of the lever arm of the pedal is 4.75. Then,

assuming that the maximum force that the pilot can apply
with one foot is 100kgf, the resultant force which hits the
plunger piston is 475Kgf.

Results indicated that the ideal bore master cylinder

brake systems to be used in front and rear of the vehicle.
As the master cylinders are machined, one comes to
the most complex part of the design: tailoring the design to
the resources available in market.

Knowing the strength of output, ie, the force that will

hit the piston when the pilot operate the brake pedal, you
can determine the dimensions of the brake master cylinder.
The function of the master cylinder (figure 5) is to convert
the force exerted on the brake pedal by the driver in
hydraulic pressure in brake fluid proportional. This
hydraulic pressure is distributed through the brake lines and
serve to trigger the brakes on the wheels [2].

Two master cylinders will be manufactured in 6351T6 aluminum, whose yield strength is 255 N / mm [8], and
its internal diameter equal to 20mm. As in the front system
is required effective pressure lower than the back, it will
use a pressure regulator for this circuit.
According to [7], when braking the car's weight rests
on the front wheels (up to 70% in front and only 30% rear),
flattening the tires and increasing its surface area and
strength of grip. Therefore it is customary to mount the
brakes so they work with greater intensity on the front
wheels.
The hydraulic cylinder consists of a body having: a
movable piston, piston cup and spring. The master cylinder
has pistons fitted with special seals to prevent leakage of
fluid and allow rebuilding of pressure [9]. The following
table shows the dimensions of gaskets and seals that were
designed for the inside of cylinders:

Figure 5- Conventional dual master cylinder [2].

By Pascal's equation:
Force

Pressure

Area

(17)

Table 4 Gaskets and Orings used in the master

cylinder

can determine the areas and, by following the diameter of

the master cylinders. Was obtained as a result:

Quantity
4
4
4
8
8
8
8

Table 3- Results
Front System
Force
(Kgf)

Pressure
(Kgf/mm)

Area
(mm)

Diameter of
plunger (mm)

475

0,77

614,45

27,97

Pressure
(Kgf/mm)

Area
(mm)

Diameter of
plunger (mm)

475

1,62

293,2

19,32

Dimensions
20x10x5mm
10x14,50x3x5,50mm
23,52x1,78mm
9,25x1,78mm
9,19x2,62mm
20,3x2,62mm
21,95x1,78mm

When you do not exert a force on the pedal, the brake

calipers are released by a spring, which also acts on the
piston of hydraulic cylinder, forcing the return of fluid
through the tubing to the master cylinder.

Rear System
Force
(Kgf)

Description
Gasket
Gasket
'O' Ring
'O' Ring
'O' Ring
'O' Ring
'O' Ring

If the pedal is quickly released, the master cylinder

piston can move as rapidly establishing a vacuum in the
tanks and piping, and air is forced into the system. This can
seriously interfere with the operation. To avoid this, the
tension of the piston return spring should be chosen so that
when the fluid pressure falls below 0,42 to 0,56 kgf / cm ,
the check valve closes and a certain excess pressure is

maintained in the hydraulic system of control. This repels

the air of pipe [9].

The braking system is one of the most complex in

sizing of a car as it depends on many variables of the
vehicle and the environment of use.

To scale the piston return spring was made a test with

a master cylinder spring existing in order to determine the
strength that it should have.

The whole structure of this was made in accordance to

the requirements of the standard of the competition, being
the force system hidraulic , powered by a pedal multiplier,
connected to two master cylinders, forcing the fluid through
tubes to the brake calipers that will induce the brake pads
against the disk and thus slow the vehicle.
The system consists of two brake calipers (model of
scooters national) in front axle and a brake caliper of big
performance (kart model ) in the rear axle, two master
cylinders machined in 6351-T6 aluminum, and a brake
pedal , machined in 7075- T651 aluminum. They are
adaptable to the efforts required by the vehicle.

Figura 6 Test with the master cylinder spring

(Galileu team).

REFERENCES
[1] SAE BRASIL. Regulamento SAE Mini Baja
Brasil 2009. Brasil: Society of Automotive Engineers,
2009.

The spring to be placed inside the master cylinder to

return the pedal and the brake fluid will have a force of
approximately 30 Kgf, as shown in Figure 6.

[2] BOSCH, Automotive Handbook.

Plochingen: Robert Bosch GmbH, 2007.

7.

ed.

The last stage of the project was to design the brake

master cylinder with the information necessary for
machining. It was also scaled a reservoir for brake fluid
DOT 4.

[3] NORTON, Robert L., Projeto de Mquinas, uma

abordagem integrada, Bookman, Porto Alegre, 2004.

It is observed in Figure 7, the five configurations of

the hydraulic circuit, according [2], are allowed by DIN
74000.

[4] BARUFFALDI, Leonardo Bartalini. Projeto

bsico de um sistema de freios para um Baja SAE.
Grmio Politcnico da Universidade de So Paulo, 2007.
[5] GENTA, Giancarlo. Motor vehicle dynamics:
modeling and simulation. Cingapura: World Scientific
Printers, 1997.
[6] GILLESPIE, T. D., Braking Performance.
Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics. Warrandalle: Society
of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

Figure 7- Possible configurations of the hydraulic brake [2].

[7] PAZ, Manuel Arias., Manual de automveis,

Mestre Jou, So Paulo, 1980.

Will be used in vehicle of Galileu team the

configuration (a), called vertical or parallel. This choice
was because of having studied the forces acting on the front
and rear axles separately.

[8] SHOCKMETAIS. Propriedades mecnicas do

alumnio.
Disponvel
em:
<http://www.shockmetais.com.br/espec/pmec/aluminio>
Acesso em: 21 jun. 2010.

CONCLUSION

[9] RUDENKO, N., Mquinas de elevao e

transporte, Livros tcnicos e cientficos, Rio de Janeiro,
RJ, 1976.