A thermomechanical model with frictional contact and wear based on the finite element method

Abstract A thermomechanical model has been developed and implemented to couple temperature, thermal expansion, contact, and wear using the finite element method. This three-dimensional, transient, and nonlinear model is unconditionally stable because of the use of an implicit solver. The weak form of the nonlinear heat transfer and elasticity equations has been derived, incorporating penalty contact, conduction, convection, radiation, and deformation. Several boundary conditions, including Dirichlet, Neumann, and Robin conditions, have been applied. We focus on mechanical train brakes due to their strong thermomechanical coupling effect. The simulation results have been validated against full-scale experimental data. Additionally, mesh sensitivity and time step sensitivity analyses are conducted to further assess the model’s accuracy. Friction heat is calculated at each time step through contact conditions, enabling the identification of hot spots and thermal cracks. The results demonstrate that this thermomechanical model is both efficient and robust. This model has been open-sourced, providing a powerful tool for advanced research in thermomechanical multiphysics analysis.