The thermal performance of slotted bicycle discs are compared to a solid bicycle disc. Four commercial 160 mm diameter bicycle brake discs were modelled with computational fluid dynamics simulations, including all the geometrical design features, such as holes, slots/cutouts, corner radii, and the brake track to hub radial spokes. Three of the discs had holes or slots in the brake track, and the other had a solid brake track. Turbulent simulations were performed in STAR-CCM + , a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, using transient time stepping to capture the rotation, forward speed, and the dynamic nature of heat transfer from the discs. Nusselt number vs. crossflow Reynolds number heat transfer correlations are provided and compared to existing rotating disc in crossflow studies. Additionally, a bicycle was instrumented for downhill front braking tests on a constant slope hill subjected to both low and high external wind driven convection. Brake temperatures, pressures, altitudes, speeds and infrared thermographic images are presented and discussed. The three slotted brake discs were shown to have higher convection coefficients from computational fluid dynamics simulations, and correspondingly lower temperatures during downhill tests than the solid brake disc. Overall, the three slotted discs had better thermal performance than the solid disc.
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