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Wheel Aerodynamics is an important part of vehicle aerodynamics. The wheels can notably influence the total aerodynamic drag, lift and ventilation drag of vehicles. In order to simulate the real on-road condition of driving cars, the moving ground and wheel rotation is of major importance in CFD. However, the wheel rotation condition is difficult to be represented exactly, so this is still a critical topic which needs to be worked on. In this paper, a study, which focuses on two types of cars: a fastback sedan and a notchback DrivAer, is conducted. Comparing three different wheel rotating simulation methods: steady Moving wall, MRF and unsteady Sliding Mesh, the effects of different methods for the numerical simulation of vehicle aerodynamics are revealed. Discrepancies of aerodynamic forces between the methods are discussed as well as the flow field, and the simulation results are also compared with published experimental data for validation.

Distributed drive electric vehicle (EV) is driven by four independent hub motors mounted directly in wheels and retains traditional hydraulic brake system. So it can quickly produce driving/braking motor torque and large stable hydraulic braking force. In this paper a new control allocation strategy for distributed drive electric vehicle is proposed to improve vehicle's lateral stability performance. It exploits the quick response of motor torque and controllable hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic brake system. The allocation strategy consists of two sections. The first section uses an optimal allocation controller to calculate the total longitudinal force of each wheel. In the controller, a dynamic efficiency matrix is designed via local linearization to improve lateral stability control performance, as it considers the influence of tire coupling characteristics over yaw moment control in extreme situations.

An accurate finite element (FE) model is the basis for the numerical prediction of vibration and noise of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). This paper provides an equivalent modeling method of PMSMs considering the orthotropic material parameters of the stator system. First, a theoretical analysis of the influence of orthotropic material parameters on modal characteristics is implemented. Subsequently, the influence of orthotropic material parameters on the modal frequency of the stator is analyzed through the FE method. Then, the modal parameters of the stator core and the stator assembly are obtained by modal tests. According to the equivalent FE model and modal parameters, the orthotropic material parameters of the stator system are acquired. Moreover, to save the calculation time and simplify the modal identification process, the influence of windings is taken into account through additional mass and additional stiffness during the modeling process.

Tire cavity noise of pure electric vehicles is particularly prominent due to the absence of engine noise, which are usually eliminated by adding Helmholtz resonators with arbitrary transversal section to the wheel rims. This paper provides theoretical basis for accurately predicting and effectively improving acoustic performance of wheel resonators. A hybrid finite element method is developed to extract the transversal wavenumbers and eigenvectors, and the mode-matching scheme is employed to determine the transmission loss of the Helmholtz resonator. Based on the accuracy validation of this method, the matching design of the wheel resonators and the optimization method of tire cavity noise are studied. The identification method of the tire cavity resonance frequency is developed through the acoustic modal test. A scientific transmission loss target curve and fitness function are defined according to the noise characteristics.

The adhesion control is the basic technology of active safety for the four-wheel driven EV. In this paper, a novel adhesion control method based on fuzzy logic control is proposed. The control system can maximize the adhesion force without road condition information and vehicle speed signal. Also, the regulation torque to prevent wheel slip is smooth and the vehicle driving comfort is greatly improved. For implementation, only the rotating speed of the driving wheel and the motor driving torque signals are needed, while the derived information of the wheel acceleration and the skid status are used. The simulation and road test results have shown that the adhesion control method is effective for preventing slip and lock on the slippery road condition.

The yield locus of a cold-rolled transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP780) steel sheet was investigated using a biaxial tensile test on a cruciform specimen. The effect of the key dimensions of the cruciform specimen on the calculation error and stress inhomogeneity was analyzed in detail using an orthogonal test combined with a finite element analysis. Scanning electron metallography (SEM) observations of the TRIP780 steel were performed. The yield curve of the TRIP780 steel was also calculated using the Von Mises, Hill '48, Hill '93, Barlat '89, Gotoh and Hosford yield criteria. The experimental results indicate that none of the selected yield criteria completely agree with the experimental curve. The Hill '48 and Hosford yield criteria have the largest error while the Hill '93 and Gotoh yield criteria have the smallest error.

Tire forces and moments play an important role in vehicle dynamics and safety. X-by-wire chassis components including active suspension, electronic powered steering, by-wire braking, etc can take the tire forces as inputs to improve vehicle’s dynamic performance. In order to measure the accurate dynamic wheel load, most of the researches focused on the kinematic parameters such as body longitudinal and lateral acceleration, load transfer and etc. In this paper, the authors focus on the suspension system, avoiding the dependence on accurate mass and aerodynamics model of the whole vehicle. The geometry of the suspension is equated by the spatial parallel mechanism model (RSSR model), which improves the calculation speed while ensuring the accuracy. A suspension force observer is created, which contains parameters including spring damper compression length, push rod force, knuckle accelerations, etc., combing the kinematic and dynamic characteristic of the vehicle.

Based on the emergency lane change cases extracted from the China naturalistic driving data, the driving steering behavior divides into three phases: collision avoidance, lateral movement and steering stabilization. Using the steering primitive fitting by Gaussian function, the distribution of the duration time, the relationship between steering wheel rate and deflection were analyzed in three phases. It is shown that the steering behavior essentially is composed of steering primitives during the emergency lane-change. However, the combination of the steering primitives is different according to the specific steering constraints in three phases. In the collision avoidance phase, a single steering primitive with high peak is used for the fast steering; in the lateral movement and stabilization phase, a combination of two or even more steering primitives is built to a more accurate steering.

In this study, the vibroacoustic characteristics and torque fluctuation of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) with different phases and poles have been analyzed in detail. Also, the common four SRMs, i.e., three-phase 6/4 SRM, four-phase 8/6 SRM, five-phase 10/8 SRM, and six-phase 12/10 SRM, have been selected. First, the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of radial force in SRMs were revealed by virtue of the analytical derivation, which was validated by the 2D Fourier decomposition based on the finite-element results of radial force. Second, a multiphysics model, which was composed of an electromagnetic field, a mechanical field, and an acoustic field, was established to predict the noise behaviors of SRMs with different phases and poles. Third, the relationship between the torque fluctuation and the phases / poles of SRMs, and the relationship between the noise and the radial force / phases / poles are all analyzed.

In this paper, a linear oscillatory actuator (LOA) with moving magnets used in active engine mount is modeled and theoretically analyzed considering its performance decline at high temperature. Firstly, a finite element model (FEM) of the LOA with moving magnets is established. The actuator force is decomposed to ampere force and cogging force through formation mechanism analysis. By using the FEM, ampere forces and cogging forces of the LOA with moving magnets under different current loads and different mover positions are calculated. The FEM and calculation method are validated by bench level test. The voice coil constant and cogging coefficient at normal temperature are identified, which indicates the actuator force is a linear model related to the current and the mover position.

Based on the classical dq theory, this paper proposes a new electromagnetic torque analytical model (AM) for interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) considering ripple characteristics, including permanent magnet (PM) torque ripple and reluctance torque ripple. The analytical expression of PM torque considering the effect of PM flux linkage harmonics is first derived according to dq transformation and energy method. Then, an improved inductance calculation method considering the non-sinusoidal magnetic field distribution and cross-coupling effect is proposed, and the reluctance torque model is established by taking the influence of inductance harmonics into consideration. Subsequently, the total electromagnetic torque can be obtained by the superposition of PM torque and reluctance torque. Finally, the proposed AM was verified by finite-element method (FEM).

Calculating accurately iron bridge saturation effects of the magnetic field, for Permanent Magnet Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Motors (PMASynRMs), remains to be a knotty problem. This paper presents an analytical modeling method to predict open-circuit magnetic field distributions and electromagnetic performances of PMASynRMs, considering iron bridge saturation effects. This analytical modeling method combines the magnetic equivalent circuit method, superposition principle, the solution of the governing Maxwell’s field equations and a complex relative permeance function. A quadruple-layer PMASynRM are remodeled into four surface-inserted permanent magnet synchronous motors (SPMSMs) which have different surface-inserted permanent magnets.

The prevention and control of brake judder and its various negative effects has been a key target of vehicle production. One of the effects is the steering wheel vibration during vehicle braking. Experimental and theoretical investigation into “steering wheel vibration due to brake judder” is extensively presented in this paper. The vehicle road test is carried out under controlled braking conditions. During the test, the accelerations of brake caliper assembly, suspension low and upper control arm, steering arm, tie rod and steering wheel, left and right wheel rotary speed, are measured by a multi-channel data acquisition system. The data processing focuses on order tracking analysis and transfer path analysis to work out the related resonant components. A disc brake assembly, with deliberately designed disc thickness variation and surface run-out combinations, is tested on a brake dynamometer.

In order to improve the robustness and stability of autonomous vehicle at high speed, a path tracking approach which combines front steering and differential braking is investigated in this paper. A bicycle model with 3-DOFs is established and a linear time-varying predictive model using front steering as its control input can be derived. Based on model predictive theory, the path tracking issue using linear time-varying model predictive control can be transformed into an online quadratic programming problem with constraints. The expected front steering angle can be obtained from online moving optimization. Then the direct yawing control is adopted to treat two types of differential braking control. The first one investigates steady-state gain of yaw rate in linear 2-DOFs vehicle model, and designs a stable differential braking controller which is based on reference yaw rate.

Nowadays, the design and development of the sliding door has been gained great attention for its easy egress and ingress. However, most studies on the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of sliding doors were based on the commercial code ADAMS, while the accuracy of flexibility in modal synthesis method and the ability of complex contact condition may not be guaranteed. Thus, a new dynamic analysis method by using the commercial code LS-Dyna was proposed in this paper to take into account the complex deformation and boundary conditions based on the finite element model. The impact force obtained from the Ls-dyna was compared with that from ADAMS when their monitoring points speed and closing time maintained the same during the sliding process. The impact force between the rollers and the guides was employed as evaluation criterion for different methods because of its effect on the roller wear and the moving smoothness in the sliding process.

A composite steering control strategy, which combines four-wheel steering (4WS) and differential steering, is proposed in this paper, to optimize steering maneuverability in the conditions where the vehicle speed is below 15 Km/h, mainly for U-turning and parking conditions. A dynamic model is developed for the steering system and the tire system. Taking different steering wheel inputs into consideration, a 4WS control strategy proportional to the front wheel steering angle is quoted to improve the steering maneuverability in the low speed conditions and guarantee the manipulability by controlling the side slip of the vehicle. Based on the 4WS system, this paper explores the possibility of further improving the low-speed maneuverability of the vehicle through differential steering. And the differential steering control strategy is developed, including four hub-motor output modes. A composite steering controller is designed based on the 4WS-4WD electric vehicle platform.

To overcome some drawbacks of using UHSS (Ultra High Strength Steel) in vehicle weight reduction, like spot weld HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) softening, hard machining and brittleness, a new solution of ultra-high stress strengthening was proposed and applied to the ridgelines of thin-walled structures in this paper. Firstly, stress distribution characteristics, the laws of stress variation and the compressed plate buckling process of the rectangular thin-walled beam under compressive and bending load were analyzed in elastic plastic stage by theory and Finite Element (FE) simulation. Secondly, based on elastic plastic buckling theory of the compressed plate and stress distribution similarity of the buckling process of the thin-walled box structure, three factors influencing the ultimate resistance enhancement of thin-walled hat section beam were found, and the rationality and accuracy of cross section ultimate resistance prediction formulas were also verified by FE simulation.

Off-road trucks, tractors and earth-moving machines are at high risk of accidents involving falling objects or rollovers. Therefore, these machines need proper protective structures to protect operators. This study investigates the crashworthiness optimization of a hydraulic excavator cab roof rail based on an improved bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method considering two different load cases (a lateral quasi-static load and an impact load from the top of cab, respectively). In the crashworthiness optimization problem, a weighted summation of external works done by the two different load cases is treated as the objective function while the volume of design domain is treated as the constraint. A mutative weight scheme is proposed to stabilize the optimization and balance the two load cases. Finite element (FE) model is established and two prototypes are fabricated based on the optimal design.

As a potential material for lightweight vehicle, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) has proven to perform well in optical behavior and weather resistance. However, the application in automotive glazing has seldom been studied. This paper investigates the defrost performance of PMMA rear window using both numerical and experimental methods. The finite element analysis (FEA) results were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. Based on the validated finite element model, we further optimized the defrost efficiency by changing the arrangement of heating lines. The results demonstrated the frost layer on the vision-related region of PMMA rear window can melt within 30 minutes, which meets the requirement of defrost efficiency.

With the increasing development in automotive industry, finite element (FE) analysis with model bias prediction has been used more and more widely in the fields of chassis design, body weight reduction optimization and some components development, which reduced the development cycles and enhanced analysis accuracy significantly. However, in the simulation process of plastic fuel tank system, there is few study of model validation or verification, which results that non-risky design decisions cannot be enhanced due to too much consuming time. In this study, to correct the discrepancy and uncertainty of the simulated finite element model, Bayesian inference-based method is employed, to quantify model uncertainty and evaluate the simulated results based on collected data from real mechanical tests of plastic fuel tanks and FE simulations under the same boundary conditions.