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The ride comfort of the commercial vehicle is mainly affected by several vibration isolation systems such as the primary suspension system, engine mounting system and the cab mounting system. A rigid-flexible coupling model for the truck was built and analyzed in multi-body environment (ADAMS). The method applying the excitation on the wheels center and the engine mountings in time domain was presented. The variables' effects on the ride performance were studied by design of experiment (DOE). The optimal design was obtained by the co-simulation of the ADAMS/View, iSIGHT and Matlab. It was found that the vertical root mean square (RMS) acceleration and frequency-weighted RMS acceleration on the seat track were reduced about 17% and 11% respectively at different speeds relative to baseline according to ISO 2631-1.

The suspension system of a heavy truck's driver seat plays an important role to reduce the vibrations transmitted to the seat occupant from the cab floor. Air-spring is widely used in the seat suspension system, for the reason that its spring rate is variable and it can make the seat suspension system keep constant ‘tuned’ frequency compared to the conventional coil spring. In this paper, vibration differential equation of air-spring system with auxiliary volume is derived, according to the theory of thermodynamic, hydrodynamics. The deformation-load static characteristic curves of air-spring is obtained, by using a numerical solution method. Then, the ADAMS model of the heavy truck's driver seat suspension system is built up, based on the structure of the seat and parameters of the air-spring and the shock-absorber. At last, the model is validated by comparing the simulation results and the test results, considering the seat acceleration PSD and RMS value.

In this paper, a new computational method is provided to identify the uncertain parameters of Load Sensing Proportional Valve (LSPV) in a heavy truck brake system by using the polynomial chaos theory. The simulation model of LSPV is built in the software AMESim depending on structure of the valve, and the estimation process is implemented relying on the experimental measurements by pneumatic bench test. With the polynomial chaos expansion carried out by collocation method, the output observation function of the nonlinear pneumatic model can be transformed into a linear and time-invariant form, and the general recursive functions based on Newton method can therefore be reformulated to fit for the computer programming and calculation. To improve the estimation accuracy, the Newton method is modified with reference to Simulated Annealing algorithm by introducing the Metropolis Principle to control the fluctuation during the estimation process and escape from the local minima.

Nowadays, studying the human body response in a seated position has attracted a lot of attention as environmental vibrations are transferred to the human body through floor and seat. This research has constructed a multi-body biodynamic human model with 17 degrees of freedom (DOF), including the backrest support and the interaction between feet and ground. Three types of human biodynamic models are taken into consideration: the first model doesn't include the interaction between the feet and floor, the second considers the feet and floor interaction by using a high stiffness spring, the third one includes the interaction by using a soft spring. Based on the whole vehicle model, the excitation to human body through feet and back can be obtained by ride simulation. The simulation results indicate that the interaction between feet and ground exerts non-negligible effect upon the performance of the whole body vibration by comparing the three cases.

This paper investigates a hierarchical optimization procedure for the optimum synthesis of a double-axle steering mechanism by considering the dynamic load of a vehicle which is seldom discussed in the previous literature. Firstly, a multi-body model of double-axle steering is presented by characterizing the detailed leaf spring effect. Accordingly, the influences of dynamic load including the motion interference of steering linkage resulted from the elastic deformation of leaf spring, and the effects of wheel slip angle and the position discrepancy of wheel speed rotation centers are explored systematically. And then, a hierarchical optimization method based on target cascading methodology is proposed to classify the design variables of double-axle steering mechanism into four levels. At last, a double-axle steering mechanism of a heavy-duty truck is utilized to demonstrate the validity of this method.

Hydraulic power steering system, which can reduce the steering hand force by applying the output from a hydraulic actuator, has been widely used in vehicles. In this paper, a detailed steer model including steering column, steering trapezium, and detailed hydraulic power steering system which is consisting of steering cylinder, relief valve, rotary valve, pump and hydraulic lines were established, and a multi-body model of a heavy truck was established to connect with the hydraulic power steering system. Modelica simulation language, which can be efficiently used to investigate multi-domain problems, was used to in the modeling and simulation of the power steering system and the vehicle. The simulation was carried out to identify the effects of design variables on the lateral stability of the vehicle. The application of Modelica for investigating multi-domain problems is also demonstrated.

Three constitutive models which capture the amplitude and frequency dependency of filled elastomers are implemented for the conventional engine mounts of automotive powertrain mounting system (PMS). Firstly, a multibody dynamic model of a light duty truck is proposed, which includes 6 degrees of freedom (DOFs) for the PMS. Secondly, Three constitutive models for filled elastomers are implemented for the engine mounts of the PMS, including: (1) Model 1: Kelvin-Voigt model; (2) Model 2: Fractional derivative Kelvin-Voigt model combined with Berg’s friction; (3) Model 3: Generalized elastic viscoelastic elastoplastic model. The nonlinear behaviors of dynamic stiffness and damping of the mounts are investigated. Thirdly, simulations of engine vibration dynamics are presented and compared with these models and the differences between common Kelvin-Voigt model and other constitutive models are observed and analyzed.

Steering returnability is an important index for evaluating vehicle handling performance. A systematic method is presented in this paper to reduce the high yaw rate residue and the steering response time for a light duty truck in the steering return test. The vehicle multibody model is established in ADAMS, which takes into consideration of the frictional loss torque and hydraulically assisted steering property in the steering mechanism, since the friction, which exists in steering column, spherical joint, steering universal joint, and steering gear, plays an important role in vehicle returnability performance. The accuracy of the vehicle model is validated by road test and the key parameters are determined by executing the sensitivity analysis, which shows the effect of each design parameter upon returnability performance.

The sewing machine has been widely used in various aspects of life and it is essential to study its kinematic and dynamic characteristics. A dynamic model of flexible multi-link mechanism for sewing machine including joints with clearance is established to analysis its dynamic response in the present work. The configuration of the sewing machine mainly included five subsystems, feeding mechanism, needle bar mechanism, looper mechanism, shearing mechanism and adjusting mechanism. Since the sewing machine mainly consist of linkage mechanisms that are connected by revolute joints and translational joints, the existence of clearances in the joints and the flexibility of crankshafts and linkage are important factors that affect the dynamic performance. Even little clearance can lead to vibration and fatigue phenomena, lack of precision or even make overall behavior as random.

As there are a variety of uncertainty contained in dynamic systems, this paper presents a method to identify the uncertain parameters of Load Sensing Proportional Valve in a heavy truck brake system. This method is derived from polynomial chaos theory and uses the maximum likelihood approach to estimate the most likely value of uncertain parameters, such as equivalent bearing area diameter of the diaphragm, preload of return spring and so on. The maximum likelihood estimates are obtained through minimizing the cost function derived from the prior probability for the measurement noise. Direct stochastic collocation has been shown to be more efficient than Galerkin approach in the simulation of systems with large number of uncertain parameters. The simulation model of Load Sensing Proportional Valve is built in software AMESim based on logic structure of the valve. The uncertain parameters are estimated through the simulation results which are treated as measurements.

To provide a greater weight capacity, the tandem axle which is a group of two or more axles situated close together has been used on most heavy truck. In general, the reaction moments during braking cause a change in load distribution among both axles of the tandem suspension. Since load transfer among axles of a tandem suspension can lead to premature wheel lockup, tandem-axle geometry and the brake force distribution among individual axles of a tandem suspension have a pronounced effect on braking efficiency. The braking efficiency has directly influence on the vehicle brake distance and vehicle travelling direction stability in any road condition, so how to improve the braking efficiency is researched in this paper. The load transfer among individual axles is not only determined by vehicle deceleration but also by the actual brake force of each axle for tandem axle suspension, which increases the difficulty of braking efficiency improving.

Electric vehicles driven by in-wheel-motor have the advantages of compact structure and high transmission efficiency, which is one of the most ideal energy-saving, environmentally friendly, and safe driving forms in the future. However, the addition of the in-wheel-motor significantly increases the unsprung mass of the vehicle, resulting in a decrease in the mass ratio of the vehicle body to the wheel, which will deteriorate the ride comfort and safety of the vehicle. To improve the vibration performance of in-wheel-motor driven vehicles, a semi-active inerter-spring-damper (ISD) suspension with in-wheel-motor (IWM) dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) of the electric wheel is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a structure of in-wheel-motor DVA is proposed, which converts the motor into a dynamic vibration absorber of the wheel to suppress the vibration of the unsprung mass.

To study the torque distribution of track and tire in the wheel-track hybrid drive vehicle driving along the shoreline, an analysis model of wheel-track hybrid drive vehicle was established by using multi-body dynamics (MBD), discrete element (DEM), and shoreline pavement construction methods. The vehicle speed, acceleration, torque, vertical load, sinkage, slip, and other indicators when the vehicle passes the shoal at different wheel speed of rotation are analyzed. The relationships between wheel speed of rotation and slip, sinkage and slip, and vertical load and driving moment were studied, and the laws that the sinkage of tires and tracks is positively related to their slippage and the driving moment of wheels and tracks is positively related to their vertical load were obtained.

Increased focus on vehicle comfort and ride has led the automotive industry to look into low vibration, noise and hardness alternative designs for powertrain system components. In this paper, the vibration theory and dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) theory is presented. The modal analysis of propeller shaft assembly has been accomplished. Based on dynamic vibration absorber principle, performance parameters of dynamic vibration absorber are matched and structure is also designed. LMS equipment is applied to verify the natural frequency of absorber samples. The matching of stiffness and damping of DVA is presented. The dynamic response of drive shaft system based on the mass ratio of DVA is researched in this paper. Results from simulations and tests indicates that the amplitude of propeller shaft resonance can be effectively reduced by attaching a DVA to the long propeller shaft.

The imbalance of propeller shaft is an excitation to the vehicle structure and causes noise and vibration. This paper presents an experimental study of effects of propeller shaft imbalance on vehicle vibration characteristics. A two-piece propeller shaft with unbalance is used in real vehicle test. The vehicle vibration is characterized by accelerations of the cabin floor and of the bearing which supports the propeller shaft. Through the experiment, some interesting phenomena are observed.

The rubber bushing is the key component to suppress vibration in the suspension system, an accurate constitutive model of rubber bushing should capture the amplitude and frequency dependency. Based on the lumped parameter model, three types of rubber bushing models are applied and compared, including the common Kelvin-Voigt model. To evaluate the model parameter and suitable frequency range, the quasi-static and dynamic tests have been performed. Comparing with the testing result, the fractional Kelvin-Voigt model combined with Berg’s friction has the minimum relative error of dynamic stiffness on the whole. Finally, two examples of chassis bushing under different loading conditions are presented. The rubber force and deflection are analyzed in both the time domain and the frequency domain, and the results show the difference of stiffness and hysteresis loop relative to frequency.

In the petroleum and gas industry, cargo truck is one of the most important ways to transfer the skid-mounting from the manufacturer to the job location. Under the condition of bumpy road surface, the random vibration from the ground can easily cause the resonance of the internal equipment components of the skid-mounting, produce large deformation in the pipeline and equipment connection, and even the equipment will be damaged. In this paper, the finite element analysis model and dynamic rigid flexible coupling model of a TEG (Triethyleneglycol) dehydration unit regeneration skid-mounting are established by using the finite element analysis and multi-body dynamics software. The modal analysis of the skid and the vibration of the whole vehicle under different road excitation and driving conditions are carried out. Two solutions are proposed to improve the anti-vibration ability of the skid, and comparative analysis is made.

In the present study, the research of the exhaust system is performed in three steps. In the first step, the average driving degree of freedom displacement (ADDOFD) is calculated by the free modal analysis of the exhaust system. It is easy to find the reasonable location of the hanger according to the value of the ADDOFD, since it represents the relative size of some DOF's response displacement at excitation state. The second of which is to analyse the vibration isolation performance of the exhaust system based on the first step. The dynamic analysis of the exhaust system together with the powertrain is studied, by which way the unit sinusoidal excitation is applied at the powertrain's mass centre, so that the response force at the hanger can be obtained. Finally, the relationship between the constrained model of the exhaust system and the stiffness of the hanger is investigated, which is significant in engineering.

The powertrain mounting system (PMS) plays an important role in improving the NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) quality of the vehicle. In all running conditions of a vehicle, the displacements of the powertrain C.G. should be controlled in a prescribed range to avoid interference with other components in the vehicle. The conventional model of PMS is based on vibration theory, considering the rotation angles are small, ignoring the sequence of the rotations. However, the motion of PMS is in 3D space with 3 translational degrees of freedom and 3 rotational degrees of freedom, when the rotation angles are not small, the conventional model of PMS will cause errors. The errors are likely to make powertrain interfering with other components. This paper proposes a rigid body mechanics model of the powertrain mounting system. When the powertrain undergoes a large rotational motion, the rigid body mechanics model can provide more accurate calculation results.

Interval inverse problems can be defined as problems to estimate input through given output, where the input and output are interval numbers. Many problems in engineering can be formulated as inverse problems like vehicle suspension design. Interval metrics, instead of deterministic metrics, are used for the suspension design of a vehicle vibration model with five degrees of freedom. The vibration properties of a vehicle vibration model are described by reasonable intervals and the suspension interval parameters are to be solved. A new interval inverse analysis method, which is a combination of Chebyshev inclusion function and optimization algorithm such as multi-island genetic algorithm, is presented and used for the suspension design of a vehicle vibration model with six conflicting objective functions. The interval design of suspension using such an interval inverse analysis method is shown and validated, and some useful conclusions are reached.