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The paper reports on an experimental investigation of the aero-thermal flow field configuration at the exit of a vented automotive brake disc. The main goal is to obtain a deeper insight of the aero-thermal phenomena upon which brake efficiency strongly depends; a second goal is to generate a complete data set for CFD code validation. A multiple pin disc geometry was tested at two disc rotational speeds and at four moderate braking conditions. The experiments were mainly focused on a coupled thermal and fluid dynamics survey. Local mean temperature and velocity measurements at disc exit were carried out in the relative frame; global parameters, as the vented mass flow rate, the heat power released to the vented air and the internal convective heat transfer coefficient were then evaluated. It was found that the flow structure does not really change, varying the rotational speed and the braking conditions.

The paper reports on an experimental investigation of the mean and turbulent flow structure at the exit of vented automotive brake discs. The main goal is to obtain a deeper insight of the aero-thermal phenomena upon which the brake efficiency strongly depends; a second important result is the generation of a comprehensive data set for CFD code validation. Two disc geometries were tested: a backward curved blade and a multiple pin configuration. The experiments were mainly focused on the evaluation of local and global fluid dynamic features, as vented mass flow rate and turbulence characteristics at the disc exit. Results in terms of mean and turbulence velocity component distributions and vented mass flow rate through the brake disc passages allow a comprehensive description of the flow behavior, together with a comparison between the two disc geometries.