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During the last years mechatronic systems developed into one of the biggest drivers of innovation in the automotive industry. The start of production of systems like dual clutch transmission, lane departure warning systems and active suspensions proves this statement. These systems have an influence on the longitudinal, steering and vertical dynamics of the vehicle. That is why the interaction on vehicle level is crucial for an optimal result in the fields of efficiency, comfort, safety and dynamics. To optimize the interaction of mechatronic systems, in this paper a new test rig concept for a complete vehicle is presented. The so-called Car-in-the-Loop-concept is capable of realistically reproducing the loads, which act on the powertrain, the steering and the suspension during a test drive.

Among many NVH problems brake squeal continues to be a difficult topic for design engineers and scientists. Both the experimental and the simulation approaches so far have failed to provide robust and reliable guidelines for the design of squeal free brakes. On the experimental side the problem clearly lies in the wide range of operating conditions which the brake encounters in its lifetime, in which it should be squeal free. From lab experiments alone, it is hardly possible to judge how far the system is from squeal, which implies that an extremely wide range of conditions is mandatory. Brake squeal simulation presents different challenges. Once a model for the brake has been formulated, including the excitation mechanism(s), it should be possible to check the robustness of a given design and system parameters against squeal. Complex eigenvalue analysis has become a standard industrial tool for squeal prediction, and is routinely applied to the simulation models.

The squealing of disk and drum brakes is still a major problem to design engineers. It has been observed by Fieldhouse and others that the introduction of asymmetries into the brake rotor can lead to a reduction of brake noise. However this insight has not yet solved the squeal problem. One reason for this is that it is not a priori obvious which kind of asymmetries of the rotor are preferable and which ones are not. This lack of knowledge most likely originates from the fact that most models explaining disk brake squeal rely on a symmetric rotor. In this paper, models for disk brake squeal are presented which are suitable to study asymmetric brake rotors. The excitation mechanism for squeal is explained by the formulation of a stability problem. It is shown that multiple eigenfrequencies of the rotor make it extremely sensitive to self-excited vibrations, i.e. squeal.

In this paper a yaw stability control algorithm along with an emergency roll control strategy have been developed. The yaw stability controller and emergency roll controller were both developed using linear two degree-of-freedom vehicle models. The yaw stability controller is based on Lyapunov stability criteria and uses vehicle lateral acceleration and yaw rate measurements to calculate the corrective yaw moment required to stabilize the vehicle yaw motion. The corrective yaw moment is then applied by means of a differential braking strategy in which one wheel is selected to be braked with appropriate brake torque applied. The emergency roll control strategy is based on a rollover coefficient related to vehicle static stability factor. The emergency roll control strategy utilizes vehicle lateral acceleration measurements to calculate the roll coefficient. If the roll coefficient exceeds some predetermined threshold value the emergency roll control strategy will deploy.

The chassis are subject to both road profile and engine or pump/motor vibration when a vehicle is moving on the road. The suspension is developed to reduce the effect of the road conditions to the chassis. The vibration from engine or pump/motor of hydraulic hybrid vehicles (HHV) will be also transmitted to the chassis and needs to be isolated. A mixed mode magnetorheological (MR) fluid mount is presented to isolate force vibration for a two degree of freedom (DOF) model based on quarter car concept. The MR fluid mount is designed to work in flow mode and squeeze mode separately and simultaneously. The skyhook control for the MR fluid mount is also been designed and simulated. Both displacement transmissibility and force transmissibility for each mode and for combined modes have been obtained. These simulation results present a basis for designing a more effective controller to control both the displacement transmissibility and force transmissibility.

Referring to the transmission development, three different classifications of the power train are useful. These are the conventional power train with combustion-engined drive of the wheels, the electric power train with electromotive drive of the wheels and the hybrid power train with both types of drive. Due to this division, the micro hybrid belongs to the conventional power train while the serial hybrid is classified with the electric power train. Subdivisions of the electric power train are the decentralized drives near the axle shafts or the wheel hub drive and the central drive with differential. The choice of the electric motor is dependent on different influences such as the package, the costs or the application area. Furthermore the execution of the transmission system does influence the electric motor. Wheel hub drives are usually executed on wheel speed level or with single ratio transmission.

The goal of constructing squeal free brakes is still difficult to achieve for design engineers. There are many measures that are beneficial to avoid or decrease brake squeal, examples are the increase in damping and the introduction of asymmetries in the brake rotor. For an efficient design process these measures have to be quantified. This is difficult due to the high complexity of the system which is caused by the contact conditions and the complicated properties of the pad material which consists of a vast amount of different components. The attempt presented in this paper is to use fundamental models of the excitation mechanism for brake squeal in order to quantify the rate of asymmetry and damping required to get far away from the squeal boundary. The relation can be helpful to generate adequate objective functions for a systematic structural optimization of brake rotors against squeal and can be used as a design guideline.

Assessment of braking performance that includes brake fade is a critical part of the evaluation of military light tactical vehicles as it is for conventional light cars and trucks. These vehicles are sometimes called upon to operate in severe mountain regions that challenge the braking performance well beyond the environment in which these vehicles are normally operated. The U.S. Army Test Operating Procedure (TOP) 2-2-608 includes a test schedule conducted in the mountainous region near Jennerstown, Pennsylvania. While this test procedure represents a typical mountain environment, it does not represent the most severe mountain descents that can be encountered across the United States. As a preliminary step to developing a representative severe mountain descent braking test, mountain roads throughout the United States were evaluated analytically to identify potential test venues.

The vertical force generated from terrain-tire interaction has long been of interest for vehicle dynamic simulations and chassis development. To improve simulation efficiency while still providing reliable load prediction, a terrain pre-filtering technique using a constraint mode tire model is developed. The wheel is assumed to convey one quarter of the vehicle load constantly. At each location along the tire's path, the wheel center height is adjusted until the spindle load reaches the pre-designated load. The resultant vertical trajectory of the wheel center can be used as an equivalent terrain profile input to a simplified tire model. During iterative simulations, the filtered terrain profile, coupled with a simple point follower tire model is used to predict the spindle force. The same vehicle dynamic simulation system coupled with constraint mode tire model is built to generate reference forces.