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The structure-, fluid- and air-borne excitation generated by HVAC compressors can lead to annoying noise and low frequency vibrations in the passenger compartment. These noises and vibrations are of great interest in order to maintain high passenger comfort of EV vehicles. The main objective of this paper is to develop a numerical model of the HVAC system and to simulate the structure-borne sound transmission from the compressor through the HVAC hoses to the vehicle in a frequency range up to 1 kHz. An existing automotive HVAC system was fully replicated in the laboratory. Vibration levels were measured on the compressor and on the car body side of the hoses under different operational conditions. Additional measurements were carried out using external excitation of the compressor in order to distinguish between structure- and fluid-borne transmission. The hoses were experimentally characterised with regard to their structure-borne sound transmission characteristics.

Minimizing rattle noises is becoming increasingly important for hybrid and electrical vehicles as masking from the internal combustion engine is missing and in view of the functional requirements of the office-like interiors of next generation automated vehicles. Rattle shall therefore be considered in the design phase of component systems. One hurdle is the modelling of the excitation mechanisms and its experimental validation. In this work we focus on excitation by loose parts having functional clearances such as gear systems or ball sensors in safety belt retractors. These parts are excited by relatively large low frequency displacements such as road-induced movements of the car body or low order rigid body engine vibrations generating multiple impacts with broad band frequency content. Direct measurement of the impact forces is in many cases not possible.

Seatbelt retractors as important part of modern safety systems are mounted in any automotive vehicle. Their internal locking mechanism is based on mechanically sensing elements. When the vehicle is run over rough road tracks, the retractor oscillates by spatial mode shapes and its interior components are subjected to vibrations in all 6 degrees of freedoms (DOF). Functional backlash of sensing elements cause impacts with neighbouring parts and leads to weak, but persistent rattle sound, being often rated acoustically annoying in the vehicle. Current acoustic retractor bench tests use exclusively uni-directional excitations. Therefore, a silent 2 DOF test bench is developed to investigate the effect of multi-dimensional excitation on retractor acoustics, combining two slip-tables, each driven independently by a shaker. Tests on this prototype test bench show, that cross coupling between the two perpendicular directions is less than 1%, allowing to control both directions independently.

From an acoustical point of view, the integration of seatbelt retractors in a vehicle is a real challenge that has to be met early in the vehicle development process. The buzz and rattle noise of seat belt retractors is a weak yet disturbing interior noise. Street irregularities excite the wheels and this excitation is transferred via the car body to the mounting location of the retractor. Ultimately, the inertia sensor of the locking mechanism is also excited. This excitation can be amplified by structural resonances and generate a characteristic impact noise. The objective of this paper is to describe a simulation method for an early development phase that predicts the noise-relevant low frequency local modes and consequently the contact of the retractor with the mounting panel of the car body via the finite element method.

In automotive industry, acoustic trim materials are widely used in order to reach passenger comfort targets. The dynamic behavior of the poro-elastic materials is typically modelled by the Biot theory, which however leads to expensive numerical finite element calculations. One way to deal with it is to use the Patch-Transfer-Function (PTF) sub-structuring method, which couples subdomains at their interfaces through impedance relations. This was done already for systems including locally reacting poro-elastic materials. In this paper, a methodology is presented allowing to numerically assess the PTF impedance matrices of non-locally reacting trim materials using the Biot based poro-elastic model solved by the finite element method (FEM). Simplifications of the trim impedance matrices are introduced resulting in considerable calculation cost reductions. The associated prediction errors are discussed by means of a numerical case study.

Radiation of sound from an open pipe with a hot mean flow presents one of the classic problems of acoustics in inhomogeneous media. The problem has been especially brought into focus in the last several decades, in the context of noise control of vehicle exhaust systems and jet engines. However, the reports on the measurements of the radiated sound field are still rare and scattered over different values of subsonic and supersonic flow speeds, cold and hot jets, as well as different sound frequency ranges. This paper focuses on low Mach number values of the mean flow speed and low frequencies of the incident (plane) sound waves inside an unflanged cylindrical pipe with a straight cut. It presents the results of the far-field radiation pattern measurements and compares them with an existing analytical model from the literature. The mean flow inside the pipe reached Mach number values up to 0.25 and temperature up to 300°C.

For vibration and acoustics vehicle development, one of the main challenges is the identification and the analysis of the noise sources, which is required in order to increase the driving comfort and to meet the stringent legislative requirements for the vehicle noise emission. Transfer Path Analysis (TPA) is a fairly well established technique for estimating and ranking individual low-frequency noise or vibration contributions via the different transmission paths. This technique is commonly applied on test measurements, based on prototypes, at the end of the design process. In order to apply such methodology already within the design process, a contribution analysis method based on dynamic substructuring of a multibody system is proposed with the aim of improving the quality of the design process for vehicle NVH assessment and to shorten development time and cost.

Automotive industry is becoming more and more interested in assessing the noise of electric motors, since their integration in many types of road vehicles is rapidly growing in a market oriented to hybridization and electrification. The acoustic characterization of an electric motor is often being performed numerically, having as consequence the fact that the investigation is confined to one specific model belonging to one particular type of motor. This paper proposes an experimental airborne sound characterization methodology, suitable for any type of cylindrical source, based on a set of data acquired following a cylindrical Nearfield Acoustical Holography (NAH) scheme. Such an approach allows the evaluation of sound intensity, as well as pressure level and particle velocity.

In many application fields, such as automotive and aerospace, the full FE Biot model has been widely applied to vibro-acoustics problems involving poro-elastic materials in order to predict their structural and acoustic performance. The main drawback of this approach is however the large computational burden and the uncertainty of the input data (Biot parameters) that may lead to less accurate prediction. In order to overcome these disadvantages industry is asking for more efficient techniques. The vibro-acoustic behaviour of structures coupled with poroelastic trims and fluid cavities can be predicted by means of the Patch Transfer Function (PTF) approach. The PTF is a sub-structuring procedure that allows for coupling different sub-systems via impedance relations determined at their common interfaces. The coupling surfaces are discretised into elementary areas called patches.

In the past the exterior and interior noise level of vehicles has been largely reduced to follow stricter legislation and due to the demand of the customers. As a consequence, the noise quality and no longer the noise level inside the vehicle plays a crucial role. For an economic development of new powertrains it is important to assess noise quality already in early development stages by the use of simulation. Recent progress in NVH simulation methods of powertrain and vehicle in time and frequency domain provides the basis to pre-calculated sound pressure signals at arbitrary positions in the car interior. Advanced simulation tools for elastic multi-body simulation and novel strategies to measure acoustical transfer paths are combined to achieve this goal. In order to evaluate the obtained sound impression a roughness prediction model has been developed. The proposed roughness model is a continuation of the model published by Hoeldrich and Pflueger.

The new generation of automatic transmissions is characterized by a compact and highly efficient design. By the use of a higher overall gear ratio and lightweight components combined with optimal gear set concepts it is possible to improve significantly fuel consumption and driving dynamics. Precise and efficient real time models of the whole power train including models for complex subsystems like the automatic transmission are needed to combine real hardware with virtual models on XiL test rigs. Thereby it's possible to achieve a more efficient product development process optimized towards low development costs by less needed prototypes and shorter development times by pushing front loading in the process. In this paper a new real time model for automatic transmissions including approved models for the torque converter, the lock-up clutch and the torsional damper are introduced. At the current development stage the model can be used for comfort analysis and drivability assessment.

High quality predicting of power train vibration behaviour is desired in the early design stage for efficient vehicle development. Conflicting demands arise, since precise, fast simulation models are required. High precision of the models will allow for the elimination of resonance phenomena for future products, thereby ensuring their comfort for the customers. Fast simulations are becoming increasingly important for linking test environments with virtual prototypes under development. This paper deals with different aspects in these conflicting demands for power train vibration models. First, the paper investigates real-time capable mechanical models and decided in favor of the object-oriented modeling approach “for requirements of Hardware in the Loop” (HiL). This paper takes a closer look at the advantages of the object-oriented approach, the model setup, its validation and the test results.