Contributiuon Analysis for Ride Comfort Evaluations 2023-01-1144

In the current changing noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) landscape, there is an increased amount of collaboration between NVH engineers and other attribute engineering groups to solve complex issues. One of these complex issues is ride comfort. An increasing amount of ride comfort development is happening between NVH and ride and handling (R&H) engineers. To apply a NVH process to a R&H phenomenon, it is important to ensure that both the transducer selection as well as analysis method will be applicable over the frequency range of interest. Specifically for ride comfort development, the validation of the use of strain gauges and accelerometers along with source path contribution analysis, or transfer path analysis, is key to bridging the gap between NVH and R&H.

A source path contribution, also known as a transfer path analysis, model can be utilized to understand the contributions from various sources, both structural and acoustic, to a given set of receivers in the interior of a vehicle. The methodology can be applied to gain insight into the primary sources and contribution paths. For ride comfort evaluations, this could identify the key input forces and body sensitivity characteristics through suspension and drivetrain components that are most affecting the customer experience. Once identified, the contributions from these sources can be utilized within NVH and R&H simulators to experience the measured condition subjectively, as well as allow for virtual part swaps and modifications to either input forces or body structural responses.