3 Bicycle Brake Design Analysis : Lever

2 Dimensional Static Loading Case Study (Load Class 1)

Any mechanical design involves a set of preliminary engineering calculations. This is done to determine the loads, forces and moments acting on the system. A knowledge of these things is essential to the design of a robust system. You'll know the weak points in the system, where to add strength, what the factor of safety should be and so on and so forth.

In industry, all the tedious engineering calculations are actually done by computers so that engineers can be removed from this tiring process and devote their brains to actually solving design and production problems, manage operations, and communicate and present material, both in written and word.

Nevertheless, its interesting to see the engineering math behind designing brakes. The simplest case study is for a stationary system with constant loads, and such a system is called a Class 1 system.

The known numbers in the math below are chosen arbitrarily, only to show how the calculations are done. Note that brakes are 3 dimensional elements but for simplicity and reasonably accurate purposes, you can employ a 2 dimensional study.

The fundamentals behind some of this material are Newton's Laws, Euler's equations, free body diagrams, vector math, and a knowledge of force and moment calculations. If you need to know some of this material, get yourself a copy of Machine Design : An Integrated Approach by Robert L. Norton. I have the age old second edition.

Courtesy : Robert L. Norton, Machine Design An Integrated Approach (2nd Edition)

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