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Advanced high strength steels (AHSS) offer a good balance of strength, durability, crash energy absorption and formability. Applications of AHSS for lightweight designs of automotive structures are accelerating in recent years to meet the tough new CAFE standard for vehicle fuel economy by 2025. At the same time, the new generation pickup cargo box is to be designed for a dramatic increase in payload. Upgrading the box material from conventional mild steels to AHSS is necessary to meet the conflicting requirements of vehicle light weighting and higher payload. In this paper, typical AHSS grades such as DP590 and DP780 were applied to selected components of the pickup cargo box for weight reduction while meeting the design targets for fatigue, strength and local stiffness.

Forming a metal gainer is a common technique used to gather material in a high stretch region along an edge in preparation for a subsequent flanging operation. This technique has proven to be successful for mild steels, but needs to be evaluated for the applicability to advanced high strength steels (AHSS). The Auto/Steel Partnership High Strength Stamping Team launched a project for this study. Experimental trials were conducted on gainer forming, trimming and flanging. Twelve (12) AHSS have been tested with tensile strengths ranging from 460 to 1240 MPa. Edge stretch limits for flanging have been evaluated and compared to flanging without gainers. Different trimming and flanging approaches have also been tried. The results show that metal gainers are not advantageous for flanging of higher strength AHSS.

As the demand for Sound Quality improvements in vehicles continues to grow, robust analysis methods must be established to clearly represent end-user perception. For vehicle sounds which are tonal by nature, such as transmission or axle whine, the common practice of many vehicle manufacturers and suppliers is to subjectively rate the performance of a given part for acceptance on a scale of one to ten. The polar opposite of this is to measure data and use the peak of the fundamental or harmonic orders as an objective assessment. Both of these quantifications are problematic in that the former is purely subjective and the latter does not account for the presence of masking noise which has a profound impact on a driver's assessment of such noises. This paper presents the methodology and results of a study in which tonal noises in the presence of various level of masking noise were presented to a group of jurors in a controlled environment.

Torsional vibration dampers are used in automatic and manual transmissions to provide passenger comfort and reduce damage to transmission & driveline components from engine torsionals. This paper will introduce a systematic method to model a torque converter (TC) arc spring damper system using Simdrive software. Arc spring design parameters, dynamometer (dyno) setup, and complete powertrain/driveline system modeling and simulation are presented. Through arc spring dynamometer setup subsystem modeling, the static and dynamic stiffness and hysteresis under different engine loads and engine speeds can be obtained. The arc spring subsystem model can be embedded into a complete powertrain/driveline model from engine to wheels. Such a model can be used to perform the torsional analysis and get the torsional response at any location within the powertrain/driveline system. The new methodology enables evaluation of the TC damper design changes to meet the requirements.

During the vehicle development process, dimensional variation simulation modeling has been applied extensively to estimate the effects of build variation on the final product. Traditional variation simulation methods analyze the tolerance inputs of structural components, but do not account for any compliance effects due to stiffness variation in tuning components, such as bushings, springs, isolators, etc., since both product and process variation are simulated based on rigid-body assumptions. Vehicle performance objectives such as ride and handling (R&H) often involve these compliance metrics. The objective of this paper is to present a method to concurrently simulate the tolerance from the structural parts as well as the variability of compliance from the tuning components through an integration package. The combination of these two highly influential effects will allow for a more accurate prediction and assessment of vehicle performance.

This paper presents a process for the selection of spring rate and pre-load for an adaptively controlled pivoting vane oil pump. The pivoting vane pump has two modes: high and low speed. A spring within the pump is installed to induce a torque that causes an adaptive displacement mechanism within the pump to move toward maximum oil chamber size. In low speed mode, two feedback regions are pressurized that produce torques that counter the spring generated torque. Together, both regions being pressurized by main oil gallery pressure tend to reduce pump displacement more at lower speeds than if only a single chamber is pressurized. At higher speeds, a solenoid switch turns off pressure to one of the feedback pressure chambers, thereby reducing feedback torque that counters spring torque. This enables higher pressure calibrations in this speed mode. In this paper, we identify a process for choosing the spring rate and pre-load that calibrates the adaptive displacement mechanism.

Springback is a major phenomenon in sheet metal forming process that has to be tackled to achieve the desired product with greater dimensional accuracy. Springback occurs due to elastic recovery of sheet metal after the stamping process. The automobile industry is gradually moving from use of conventional steels to advanced high strength steels (AHSS) for their light weight and greater strength properties; however AHSS possesses greater springback effect due to higher elastic limit which proves to be difficult to deal with the springback effect. Hence it is imperative that the counter measures are taken to minimize the springback effect. The purpose of the study is to showcase various factors that influence the prediction of springback phenomenon. In this study the simulation results are compared with scanned data of actual stamped panels and their deviation is studied.

There is a continual need to apply heat treatment processes in innovative ways to optimize material performance. One such application studied in this research is carburizing followed by austempering of low carbon alloy steels, AISI 8620, AISI 8822 and AISI 4320, to produce components with high strength and toughness. This heat treatment process was applied in two steps; first, carburization of the surface of the parts, second, the samples were quenched from austenitic temperature at a rate fast enough to avoid the formation of ferrite or pearlite and then held at a temperature just above the martensite starting temperature to partially or fully form bainite. Any austenite which was not transformed during austempering, upon further cooling formed martensite or was present as retained austenite.

Automotive industry's migration to usage of HSS (High Strength Steels), AHSS (Advance High Strength Steels) from conventional steels for their low weight and high strength properties has had its significant effects on die wear. The unpredictability of die wear can pose manufacturing issues, for example, undesirable tool life. Hence die wear has been gaining immense attention and lot of research work has been carried out to provide a die wear prediction method. This paper focuses on the method of estimating wear mathematically based on the mechanics behind die wear phenomenon. This is also an effort to study wear on die for an automotive component in critical areas for which the amount of wear are calculated. This study is further to be correlated with production data from die maintenance record, explicit measurement of die wear, etc., to validate the estimation.

Brake judder is a brake induced vibration that a vehicle driver experiences in the steering wheel or floor panel at highway speeds during vehicle deceleration. The primary cause of this disturbance phenomenon is the brake torque variation (BTV). Virtual CAE tools from both kinematics and compliance standpoints have been applied in analyzing sensitivities of the vehicle systems to BTV. This paper presents a recently developed analytical approach that identifies parameters of steering and suspension systems for achieving optimal settings that desensitize the vehicle response to BTV. The analytical steps of this integrated approach started with creating a lumped mass noise-vibration-harshness (NVH) control model and a separate multi-body dynamics (MBD) suspension model. Then, both models were linked to run in a sequence through optimization software so the results from the MBD model were used as quasi-static inputs to the lumped mass NVH model.

Generic spindle loads are used in the upfront analysis for vehicle durability development. They represent different load case into the vehicle suspension system, such as potholes, cornering, and braking. The advantage of using these generic load cases is that they can be used upfront in the durability development process before hardware is available. The generic spindle loads are cascaded through the suspension system to generate component loads which can then be used for stress analysis. The paper describes a study that was done to determine the validity of current generic spindle loads by analyzing spindle data from multiple vehicles in the same class. The paper will explain the initial data analysis that was done, which was normalizing the spindle loads by weight. In addition, the paper will then go into further detail on describing a relationship between spindle loads and tire sidewall height, which reduced the load scatter.

This paper studies the effects of various types of parking brake cable construction on parking brake system efficiency. Testing was conducted on a variety of common cable constructions from several industry sources. Cable construction variables include different types of conduit and wire strand. Input travel, input force, output travel, and output force were carefully measured under controlled conditions. Force, travel and hence work efficiencies were calculated and analyzed to identify any differences that might exist under the defined test conditions. Conclusions were drawn that might provide direction for improving parking brake system designs that have performance issues caused by poor cable efficiency.

Road-tire induced vibrations are in many vehicles determining the interior noise levels in (semi-) constant speed driving. The understanding of the noise contributions of different connections of the suspension systems to the vehicle is essential in improvement of the isolation capabilities of the suspension- and body-structure. To identify these noise contributions, both the forces acting at the suspension-to-body connections points and the vibro-acoustic transfers from the connection points to the interior microphones are required. In this paper different approaches to identify the forces are compared for their applicability to road noise analysis. First step for the force identification is the full vehicle operational measurement in which target responses (interior noise) and indicator responses (accelerations or other) are measured.

A procedure for fatigue life estimation of components and structures under variable amplitude multiaxial loadings based on simple and commonly available material properties is presented. Different aspects of the analysis consisting of load cycle counting method, plasticity model, fatigue damage parameter, and cumulative damage rule are presented. The only needed material properties for the proposed procedure are hardness and monotonic and axial cyclic deformation properties (HB, K, n, K′ and n′). Rainflow cycle counting method is used for identifying number of cycles. Non-proportional cyclic hardening is estimated from monotonic and axial cyclic deformation behaviors. A critical plane approach is used to quantify fatigue damage under variable amplitude multiaxial loading, where only material hardness is used to estimate the fatigue curve, and where the needed deformation response is estimated based on Tanaka's non-proportionality parameter.

The first set of SAE J2643 Standard Reference Elastomers (SRE) was developed in 2004. It was composed of a group of 10 compounds covering multiple elastomer families. Since then, more advanced materials from many elastomer families have been introduced to the automotive industry. The purpose of this study is to add a few more reference compounds to SAE J2643, to enhance the portfolio on FKM, AEM and ACM to reflect advancements in elastomer technology, and make it suitable for a variety of fluids, such as transmission fluid and engine oil. Fourteen standard elastomer compounds were involved in this study, covering various materials currently used in automotive powertrain static and dynamic sealing applications. Participants include OEMs, major rubber manufacturers, a fluid additive company and an independent lab. Manufacturers of each test compound provided formulations, designated ingredients from defined sources, and detailed mixing and molding procedures.

In an environment of tougher engineering constraints to deliver tomorrow's aerodynamic vehicles, evaluation of aerodynamics early in the design process using digital prototypes and simulation tools has become more crucial for meeting cost and performance targets. Engineering needs have increased the demands on simulation software to provide robust solutions under a range of operating conditions and with detailed geometry representation. In this paper the application of simulation tools to wheel design in on-road operating conditions is explored. Typically, wheel and wheel cover design is investigated using physical tests very late in the development process, and requires costly testing of many sets of wheels in an on-road testing environment (either coast-down testing or a moving-ground wind-tunnel).

Edge cracking is one of the major formability concerns in advanced high strength steel (AHSS) stamping. Although finite element analysis (FEA) together with the Forming Limit Diagram has been widely used, it has not effectively predicted edge cracking. Primary problems in developing a methodology to insure that parts are safe from edge cracking are the lack of an effective failure criterion and a simple and accurate measurement method that is not only usable in both die tryout and production but also can be verified by finite element analysis. The intent of this study is to develop a methodology to ensure that parts with internal cutouts, such as a body side panel can be produced without edge cracking. During tryout and production, edge cracking has traditionally been detected by visual examination, but this approach is not adequate for ensuring freedom from edge cracking.