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With rising fuel prices, lightweight structures and materials (like composites) are receiving more attention. Composite materials offer high stiffness to weight and strength to weight ratios when compared with traditional metallic materials. Traditionally, composite materials were generally costly which made them only attractive to very limited industries (e.g., the defense industry). Advances in their manufacturing and new innovations have brought the cost of these materials down and made them reasonably competitive. They have gained more and more usage in the last 3 decades in the aerospace industry and have recently been gaining more usage in the automotive industry. In automotive design, they yield lighter structures which have positive impact on attributes like fuel economy, emission and others. Proper modeling and analyses need to be performed to make sure that other attributes (e.g. durability, noise, vibration and harshness or NVH) are assessed properly and remain competitive.

With rising fuel prices, light weight structures and materials (like composites) are receiving more attention. Composite materials offer high stiffness to weight ratio when compared with traditional metallic materials. Traditionally, composite materials were generally costly which made them only attractive to very limited industries (e.g., the defense industry). Advances in their manufacturing and new innovations have brought the cost of these materials down and made them reasonably competitive. They have gained more and more usage in the last 3 decades in the aerospace industry and have recently been gaining more usage in the automotive industry. In automotive design, they yield lighter structures which have positive impact on attributes like fuel economy, emission and others. Proper modeling and analyses need to be performed to make sure that other attributes (e.g. noise, vibration and harshness or NVH) are assessed properly and remain competitive.

Variation in vehicle noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) response can be caused by variability in design (e.g. tolerance), material, manufacturing, or other sources of variation. Such variation in the vehicle response causes a higher percentage of produced vehicles with higher levels (out of specifications) of NVH leading to higher number of warranty claims and loss of customer satisfaction, which are proven costly. Measures must be taken to ensure less warranty claims and higher levels of customer satisfaction. As a result, original equipment manufacturers have implemented design for variation in the design process to secure an acceptable (or within specification) response. This paper focuses on aspects of design variations that should be considered in the design process of drivelines. Variations due to imbalance and runout in rotating components can be unavoidable or costly to control.

Variability in design (e.g. tolerance), material, manufacturing, or other sources of variation causes significant variation in vehicle noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) response. This leads to a higher percentage of produced vehicles with higher levels of NVH leading to higher number of warranty claims and loss of customer satisfaction, which are proven costly to the original equipment manufacturers (OEM). Measures must be taken to insure less warranty claims and higher levels of customer satisfaction. As a result, original equipment manufacturers have implemented design for variation in the design process to secure an acceptable (or within specification) response. We will focus on some aspects of design variations in a tire/wheel assembly that should be considered in the design process. In particular, certain materials (e.g. rubber) are known to have variation in stiffness that is either unavoidable or proven costly if tighter control is desired.

In an effort to present more ‘green’ material for massive manufacturing that are both competitive in their properties and can be more environmental friendly, natural fibers are being considered for possible applications in the automotive industry. This paper shows an exploratory study of the effects of pressure and layup on a hybrid composite of randomly oriented woven kenaf fibers and fiberglass/polyester sheet molding compound (SMC). In addition to initial testing performed on their water absorption and other important properties, these hybrid composites were tested to determine the bending modulus of elasticity (MOE) and the bending modulus of rupture (MOR).

This paper presents an experimental study of automotive V-ribbed belt slip noise under cold condition. In this study, a set of experiments was conducted to investigate the properties of the belt noise and friction using a self developed rig. The belt friction under cold condition is found to have higher value than that in room condition. The belt noise under cold condition is found to have much higher squeal frequency than that in room condition. This study is expected to provide accessory drive designers some fundamental understanding of belt startup noise under cold conditions.

This set combines the book Road Vehicle Dynamics with its corresponding workbook companion, Road Vehicle Dynamics: Problems and Solutions. Road Vehicle Dynamics provides a detailed overview of the dynamics of road vehicle systems, giving readers an understanding of how physical laws, human factor considerations, and design choices affect ride, handling, braking, acceleration, and vehicle safety. Chapters cover analysis of dynamic systems, tire dynamics, ride dynamics, vehicle rollover analysis, handling dynamics, braking, acceleration, total vehicle dynamics, and accident reconstruction. The workbook will enable students and professionals from a variety of disciplines to engage in problem-solving exercises based on the material covered in each chapter of that book. It presents systematic rules of analysis that students can follow in a step-by-step manner to understand the efficiencies or shortcomings of various techniques.

This workbook, a companion to the book Road Vehicle Dynamics, will enable students and professionals from a variety of disciplines to engage in problem-solving exercises based on the material covered in each chapter of that book. Emphasizing application more than theory, the workbook presents systematic rules of analysis that students can follow in a step-by-step manner to understand the efficiencies or shortcomings of various techniques. Readers will gain a greater understanding of the factors influencing ride, handling, braking, acceleration, and vehicle safety.

This paper studies the dynamics and noise of timing belt. A comprehensive theoretical contact dynamics model for belt tooth-sprocket tooth pair is developed. The general belt dynamics model in conjunction with the contact model is used to quantify the impact-sliding process of belt tooth. The effect of tooth meshing process is illustrated which results in the vibrations of belt span and tooth vibrations. The structural borne noise consists of structural impact portion and friction-induced portion. The relationship between system parameters and noise is quantified. The air borne noise due to air-pumping is investigated based on Lighthill's equation. A comprehensive model is developed and the spectrum signatures of the air-pumping noise are illustrated.

Serpentine belt system has been widely used to drive automotive accessories like power steering pump, alternator, and A/C compressor from a crankshaft pulley. Overload under severe conditions can lead to excessive slippage in the belt pulley interface in poorly designed accessory systems. This can lead to undesirable noise that increases warranty cost substantially. The mechanisms and data of these tribology performance, noise features and system response are of utmost interest to the accessory drive designers. As accessories belt systems are usually used in ambient condition, the presence of water on belt is unavoidable under the raining weather conditions. The presence of water in interface induces larger slippage as the water film in interface changes the friction mechanisms in rubber belt-pulley interface from coulomb friction to friction with mixed lubrication that has negative slope of coefficient of friction (cof) - velocity.

The advantages of having higher stiffness to weight ratio and strength to weigh ratio that composite materials have resulted in an increased interest in them. In automotive engineering, the weight savings has positive impacts on other attributes like fuel economy and possible noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). The driveline of an automotive system can be a target for possible use of composite materials. The design of the driveshaft of an automotive system is primarily driven by its natural frequency. This paper presents an exact solution for the vibration of a composite driveshaft with intermediate joints. The joint is modeled as a frictionless internal hinge. The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is used. Lumped masses are placed on each side of the joint to represent the joint mass. Equations of motion are developed using the appropriate boundary conditions and then solved exactly.

Drive shafts are major automotive components in rear wheel and four wheel drive vehicles. They can be made of single or multi-piece segments. The segments of a multi-piece driveshaft in automotive applications are joined using constant velocity or universal joints or a combination of both. The design of the driveshaft of an automotive system is primarily driven by its natural frequency. This paper uses an exact solution for the vibration of a three-piece driveshaft with multiple intermediate joints. The joint is modeled as a frictionless internal hinge. Thin beam theory is used. Exact solutions are found and used to study the vibrations of three piece shaft system. Natural frequencies and modes shapes are obtained. Numerical results obtained here are compared with those obtained using analytical tools (e.g. finite elements). The solution should be of value to engineers interested in the design and optimization of the system.

The objective of this paper is to explore the dynamic features of vibrations and instability in automotive front end accessory drive belt system. To address this issue, a non-linear model of a moving beam with friction coupling on elastic foundation is developed. The model takes into account of a variety of nonlinear effects, including the contact stiffness nonlinearity, nonlinearities associated with the friction, tensioned parametric excitation, as well as the beam geometry nonlinearity. Different nonlinear properties are examined, and numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the system and to correlate with the experimental results. The major contributors to the dynamic contact instability are illustrated and are attributed to modal coupling and/or negative damping.

Vehicle noise and vibration (NVH) is among the important attributes of the vehicle. This attribute has to be designed for in the product development process. This produces challenges that are usually overlooked by researchers in the field. These challenges are assessed in this manuscript. The emphasis here is on the NVH phenomenon at the vehicle level. Little work is being done to study the vehicle noise and vibration from a system or customer perspective. This manuscript brings to the attention of researchers and the NVH community at large the various NVH challenges that constitute complexities to the development engineer and may deserve closer attention.

This paper introduces a cumulative effort on the phenomenon of exhaust flow exited noise. The mechanisms of engine combustion noise via the exhaust system and flow excited noise are analyzed. Engine combustion noise contributes most to tailpipe noise at lower engine speed while flow excited noise dominates the tailpipe noise at high engine speed. WAVE model, a one dimension CFD and Acoustics model, is used to distinguish the engine combustion noise and flow excited noise. Both CAE and tests based results are used to draw conclusions. The influence of single system and quasi-dual system on the tailpipe noise is compared with each other. The paper analyzes the balance of different diameter pipes to achieve the desired sound at different rpm range. The evaluation balance between interior sound and tailpipe noise is described.

This paper analyzes the relation between sound pressure at tailpipe and exhaust Y-pipe structure. The length of Y-pipe influences sound order distribution that influences customers' responsiveness of sound. The equal Y-pipe remains the firing order and its harmonic contents while suppressing the half order and other whole order sounds. Various lengths of equal Y-pipe also influence the magnitude and frequency distribution of tailpipe noise. An air-to-air (induction-engine-exhaust) CAE model is built to predict tailpipe noise using up-to-date software. The real air-to-air model simulation shows that the 3rd and 6th orders are the dominating contents for equal Y-pipe exhaust system in 6-cylinder engine applications. The sound pressure of the half order contents increases with the length difference between two branches of a Y-pipe. The results are useful for exhaust Y-pipe design.

The function of flex decoupler is to reduce the vibration transferred from the engine to the vehicle body. The stiffness of the flex decoupler is a key parameter in the vibration control. This paper deals with decoupling exhaust hot end and cold end to minimize vibration transfer. A computer aided engineering (CAE) based design of experiment (DOE) is used to investigate the coupling stiffness. A finite element model is built to analyze the exhaust vibration responses. Robustness of the exhaust system is analyzed. The analysis reveals that vertical stiffness of the flex decoupler is the key parameter for the hanger force response. The main control factors for exhaust vertical and lateral bending frequencies are vertical and lateral stiffnesses of the decoupler, respectively.

Powertrain mounts are one of the important design characteristics of a vehicle. Powertrain is mostly mounted to the front subframe and once installed in a vehicle, powertrain mounting has an important role in determining the vehicle vibration characteristics. A good mounting system isolates engine input vibration from the vehicle body and minimizes the effect of road inputs to the customer. This paper discusses results of several dynamic models as they relate to noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and compares the accuracy of these models. Various powertrain models are studied and their accuracy in comparison with full a vehicle model is discussed.

The reduction of powertrain noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) in modern vehicles resulted in unmasking other NVH issues and concerns in the vehicle. One of these concerns is driveline NVH. Driveline NVH is one of the customer complaints that appear in various forms including warranty. One of the main issue that drive this phenomenon is vehicle to vehicle variability. This is driven mainly by the variability of driveline imblance from one vehicle to the next as well as the variability of vehicle sensitivity to imbalance from vehicle to vehicle. One of the key reasons for such variability is the axle mounts themselves. This paper addresses the issue of variability, and robustness, of axle mount system to driveline NVH.

Pump whine as well as other NVH issues related to power steering system can become customer concerns at the vehicle level. In order to avoid that, proposed treatment of the pump structure and its installation on the engine should be performed. This is particularly important because most vane pumps have a wide range of excitation that can reach 1000 Hz (30th order @ 6000 rpm). This requires maximizing the ‘as installed’ frequencies of the pump to avoid coincidence with the engine and other FEAD harmonics.