Today we will continue the lecture on various applications of friction.

For your reference, this is module

4, lecture 11 of the engineering mechanics web-based course. In the last lecture, we saw an application
of friction in square threads, where they are used in clamps and screw jacks to raise a load or apply a
clamping force.
Today, we will explore more applications of friction, specifically what we call "disc friction." To analyze
these problems, we will use the concept of deriving frictional forces for elemental areas of contact.
Disc friction finds applications in automobile brakes, clutches, and machinery in the form of thrust
bearings or collar bearings.
This picture shows the working of a clutch. There is a driving unit, such as a motor or engine,
connected to a shaft that is running. You can see a disc pad attached to the driving member and
another disc pad attached to the driven member. When these two pads come into contact and there
are sufficient normal forces to maintain this contact, the driven disc also rotates along with the driving
member's disc. Thus, the shaft, which may be connected to machinery, also rotates.
Here, one should note that the torque is transmitted from the driving member to the driven member
through the friction between these two pads. The normal force and friction between the pads must be
sufficiently large to transmit the required torque. When we distinguish, this member does not rotate.
This is the principle of the clutch, where friction is used to transmit torque.
The other application is in braking. Here, you see a disc attached to the wheel of an automobile, and a
braking pad (also called a braking shoe), which when engaged, will apply a normal force on this disc.
The friction between this pad and the disc will stop the rotating motion, bringing the disc to a
standstill. This is how a brake works.
Here, we see that friction is used either to transmit torque or to apply a braking torque. Other
applications include bearings. Bearings are used to support shafts that transmit torque. If an axial force
exists on a shaft, a bearing is needed to prevent axial movement while allowing the shaft to rotate and
transmit the required motion.
For such cases, we provide a bearing face to support the axial force and keep the shaft in motion due
to the torque. The torque must overcome the friction in the contact face to keep the shaft rotating.
Here is another type of thrust bearing, a collar bearing. It has a through-running shaft and a collar that
supports the axial load. The moment of force must overcome the friction between the collar face and
the support face.
In these bearings, the goal is to minimize friction so that the required moment to keep the shafts in
motion is minimized.
To analyze these problems, we need to develop the frictional moment equation for these disc faces
that must be overcome by the applied moment. Let's consider a hollow shaft. Let R2 be the outside
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diameter and R1 the inside diameter of the hollow shaft, which bears on this support face. There is an
​

axial force P . To overcome the friction in this face, a moment M is applied to keep the shaft running.
To solve this, we consider a small elemental area ΔA on the face, where there is a normal reaction ΔN
and a frictional force ΔF . We consider this element at a radius R and at an angle θ from the
reference. So, if we look, we will have a similar element on the other side with a frictional force ΔF , as
shown.
By considering equilibrium, the sum of all the normal forces must equal the force P . These forces are
equal and opposite, so the effect will only cause a moment about the shaft's axis. This moment, the
sum of the moments from all these forces, must be overcome by the applied moment M .
Next, we write the equations of equilibrium for this elemental area and integrate it over the entire area
to determine the total effect of the frictional force on this face.
The moment caused by the frictional force ΔF is R × ΔF , which can be related to the normal force by
the coefficient of kinetic friction μk . Thus, ΔF
​
= R × μk ΔN . ​

The normal force ΔN on this elemental area is equal to the total load divided by the total area of the
P
disc. If the contact is uniform, this holds true, so ΔN = A × ΔA. ​

We can calculate the area of the disc by integrating this element ΔA in the limits where θ varies from 0
to 2π and R varies from R1 to R2 . The differential area is r dθ dr , so we integrate over these limits to
​ ​

find the total area of the disc.

P
Now, we can write the moment equation as ΔM = R × μk × ​

A
​, which simplifies to π(R22 − R12 ) × ΔA.
​ ​

This is the moment that must be resisted by the differential element ΔA.
By integrating, we find the total moment. The integration limits are from 0 to 2π for θ , and from R1 to ​

R2 for R. The total moment, factoring in constants, is:

​

2 R23 − R13
P
μk × 2
​ ​

3 R2 − R12
​ ​ ​

​ ​

This is the moment that must be overcome to keep the shaft rotating. If the shaft is solid, meaning
R1 = 0, the moment to overcome is 23 μk PR.
​ ​ ​

This method demonstrates how to integrate the frictional effects on differential areas to predict the
total behavior of these frictional forces.
Let’s now consider an example. Here you see a conical pivot bearing. Earlier, we discussed flat-end
bearings, but now we have a conical pivot bearing. The axial force P must be supported, and a
moment M is applied to overcome the friction on these faces.
The radii of contact are R1 at the smaller end and R2 at the larger end of this cone. Let the coefficient
​ ​

of kinetic friction be μk .
​

To solve this, we again consider a differential element along the axis of the pivot bearing. Let’s denote
the axis as y , and consider a differential element, a thin slice of this conical pivot bearing.
Now, we write the differential moment that must be resisted for this element. The frictional moment
that must be resisted is ΔM = r × ΔF , where r is the radius at the element's position and ΔF is the
frictional force.
We can use this framework to solve for the frictional moment in conical pivot bearings in a similar way
to how we solved for the disc.
The frictional force, delta F, can be related to delta N by the coefficient of kinetic friction, μk . We have ​

ΔF = μk × ΔN , so ΔM = rμk ΔN .
​ ​

Now, for uniform contact pressure, which means the conical face is having uniform contact throughout
from its minimum radius R1 to maximum radius R2 , we assume uniform pressure given by P /A,
​ ​

where A is the total area of contact. This is equal to ΔN sin θ/ΔA, where θ is the semi-conical angle of
the pivot bearing.
Substituting this, we have ΔM = rμk P ΔA/A sin θ , where A is the total area of contact and θ is the
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semi-conical angle of the pivot bearing.

Next, we need to find the area. This differential element has an area dA when ΔA tends to 0 as
2πr dr csc θ. This is found by computing the area swept by the line when it is moved along the
circumference, which is 2πr distance, and this length is equal to dr csc θ , where dr is the change in
the radius for a change in the vertical distance Δy .
R2
When we integrate this from R1 to R2 , the total area is given by the integral ∫R dA, which equals
​

​ ​ ​

1 ​

2πr csc θ dr. Performing the integration, we get π csc θ(R22 − R12 ), which is the total area of the
​ ​

contact between the pivot bearing and the bearing surface.

Now that we have found this total area, we can substitute it into the differential moment equation and
integrate to find the total moment. In this equation, we substitute for A as well as ΔA.
In the limit, the total moment is equal to the integral of these differential moments dM , which is equal
to the limits R1 to R2 , rμk P dA, which is 2πr csc θ dr divided by the total area π csc θ(R22 −
​ ​ ​ ​

R12 ) sin θ.
​

After integrating between the limits R1 and R2 and simplifying, we get the moment that needs to be
​ ​

overcome to keep the shaft rotating:

2P μk R3 − R13
Moment = × 22 .
​ ​

3 sin θ R2 − R12
​

Next, we move on to another application of friction used in belts for transmitting power from one
shaft to another. Consider two shafts: one connected to the motor and the other to a rotating
machine. The torque developed by the motor needs to be transmitted to the machinery, and one way
to do this is by using a pulley that is keyed to the shaft and a belt running over the pulleys to transmit
the torque.
By adjusting the pulley diameters and center distances, we can change the torque transmitted. The
tension on the belt from one side to another determines this, and friction is key in ensuring the
transmission of power. To analyze this, we consider the free body diagram of one of these pulleys. The
tension developed is larger on one side, depicted in the diagram, and this tension causes rotation of
the pulley.
We assume the belt tends to slip to the right side, making the tension T2 larger than T1 , which results
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in the pulley being rotated. A small element of the belt is considered, which subtends an angle Δθ on
the pulley. The force N is the normal reaction of the pulley on the belt element, and the frictional force
can be related to the normal force by the coefficient of friction: ΔF = μs ΔN , where μs is the
​ ​

coefficient of static friction for the impending slippage case.

Summing the forces along the x and y axes gives the equations of equilibrium. The result leads to an
equation for the change in tension dT
dθ
= μs T . Integrating this from 0 to β , the total angle subtended
​ ​

by the belt, gives:

T2
= eμ s β ,
​

T1
​

which shows the relationship between the tension on the tight side and the slack side of the belt in
terms of the coefficient of friction and the angle of wrap.
Thus, the torque transmitted can be analyzed using these equations, and the maximum torque is
limited by both the available normal reaction force and the material strength of the belt, as well as the
friction between the belt and pulley. The torque depends on the tension difference T2 − T1 and the
​ ​

radius of the pulley. The maximum tension is constrained by the material properties of the belt and the
available normal force.
The system is limited by the tensile strength of the belt. This relation has been found for the
impending slippage for a stationary drum. If we discard the centrifugal effects, this relation can be
extended to impending slippage in the running condition by replacing the coefficient of static friction
with the coefficient of kinetic friction.
Let us consider this picture, where we have a large pulley and a small pulley at B. The angles of wrap
are 240 degrees for the pulley at A and 120 degrees for the pulley at B. If we write the equation for the
tensions, the tension on the tight side to the tension on the slack side is related by this relation. In this
case, the angle β to be used should be the angle of overlap for the smallest pulley, which in this case is
pulley B. Slippage will occur first in the small pulley for the given pair.
Additionally, we have another kind of belt called V-belts. This picture shows the V-belt along with the
pulley, which has a groove to accommodate the V-belt. These kinds of belts and pulley systems are
used to transmit larger torques. They can transmit more torque than flat belts, as we have just
considered. If we take the angle of the V-belt, the tension relation derived earlier can be found as T2
by T1, the ratio between the tight side tensions and the slack side tension, which is eμs β / sin(α/2),
​

where α is the angle of the groove.

Let us take an example. Here you see a rope with a mass per unit length of 0.6 kg per meter, wound
two and a half times on a horizontal rod. The rope has a self-weight of 0.6 kg per meter. One side of
the rope is connected to a 50 kg load, and the other side is loosely hanging. The coefficient of static
friction between the shaft and this rope is 0.3. For equilibrium, we are interested in finding what length
of rope should hang on the free end side so that this 50 kg load can be supported.
Let us consider this diagram. For equilibrium, the tension on one side of the rope and the tension on
the other side must be related by the coefficient of friction and angle of wrap to maintain equilibrium.
The angle of wrap is 2πθ . Since θ is two and a half turns of wrapping, it becomes 5π. So, for this case,
the angle of wrap is 5π.
This diagram shows the tension on the side where the 50 kg block is attached. It is equal to 50 kg plus
the self-weight of the rope, which is hanging for 3 meters. The total weight of the rope is three times
the unit weight of the rope (0.6 kg per meter) times the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s²), which
equals 508.16 Newtons. If T1 is the tension on the side where the rope is suspended for a distance x,
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which needs to be found, we know the relation between the tight side and slack side tensions. For
equilibrium, the ratio must be eμs β , which is 111.32 for this case.
​

From this, we find that T1 , the tension on the slack side, must be equal to 4.56 Newtons. Once we
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know the force, we can determine the distance of this rope, as we know its mass per unit length. Thus,
x becomes 0.776 meters.
Now, let’s see one more example problem involving belts and pulleys. Here, we have a pulley whose
axle has been frozen, meaning the pulley cannot rotate about its pin, and thus the short element B will
rotate along with this pulley. The block and pulley are frozen at this pin. In this problem, the coefficient
of friction between the cable ABCD and the pulley is 0.3. We are interested in determining the
maximum allowable value of θ, the angle of the applied 200 Newton force, if the system is to remain in
equilibrium. We are also interested in finding the corresponding reactions at points A and D.
Let us consider this diagram, where we have a 200 Newton force applied at an angle of θ. We are
interested to know the angle for equilibrium. This 200 Newton force tends to rotate the pulley
counterclockwise. Since the cable fixed at A passes over the pulley and goes to D, the cable tends to
slip clockwise relative to the pulley.
Let us consider the forces acting on this pulley block. We have the tension in cable CD marked as TCD , ​

which is inclined at 60 degrees. We have the tension in cable AB, marked as TAB , again inclined at 60
​

degrees. The dimensions of the blocks and the force of 200 Newtons applied at angle θ are given. Let
the tension in cable CD be T1 and in cable AB be T2 .
​ ​

Since the cable tends to slip in the clockwise direction, the tension in TAB must be greater than in TCD
​ ​

. The angle of wrap from the geometry can be found as 120 degrees because these two angles are 60
degrees each. The coefficient of friction is 0.3. For impending slippage, the ratio between the tight side
and slack side tensions is related to the angle of wrap and the coefficient of static friction as eμs β . The
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tension in cable AB is equal to eμs β , which has been found to be 1.8745 times the tension in cable CD.
​

Let us consider the force triangle where the forces are marked: TCD , TAB , and the 200 Newton force.
​ ​

The angle between the two forces is known from the geometry. The angle of inclination of the forces is
60 degrees for both cables, and the angle of wrap is 120 degrees. Using the law of cosines, we can
write P 2 = TAB
2 ​
2
+ TCD − 2 ⋅ TAB ⋅ TCD ⋅ cos(120∘ ).
​ ​ ​

From this, we have TCD = 0.39565 ⋅ P . The tension in TAB can be substituted in terms of TCD from
​ ​ ​

our earlier equation. We have TAB = 1.8745 ⋅ TCD .

​ ​

To find the maximum value of θ, we use the law of sines. It states that sin(θ)/TCD = sin(ϕ)/P , where
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φ is known. By solving this, we find TCD = 79.13 Newtons and TAB = 148.33 Newtons. The
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maximum angle θ is found to be 9.96 degrees.

Thus, this example illustrates solving problems on belts and finding the required friction or the
tendency of slippage between the belt and pulleys. We will see more applications in the next lecture.