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Body structure design and development is becoming more and more critical for noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) vehicle performance. Many body structure design alternatives are studied analytically and in hardware during a vehicle program. Because of design and fabrication time, body structure hardware development can be very expensive and extremely time consuming. Consequently, the use of experimental design techniques for vehicle NVH development are becoming more popular to bring quality products to the market faster. This paper demonstrates how an experimental approach was used to develop the body structure. Initially, a hardware experiment was used to assess the effects of four parts groups for Body Chassis NVH. Then, to further study the major parts groups, a computational experiment was performed. The result of these two experiments (hardware and computational) was used to recommend design concepts which reduced interior noise levels and improved body chassis NVH.

Automotive outside rear view mirror shape has become an important consideration in achieving wind noise and aerodynamic performance objectives. This paper describes a two step process used to develop a mirror shape which meets both wind noise and aerodynamic objectives. First, basic understanding of door mounted verses sail mounted mirrors and shape parameters was obtained by evaluating selected shapes and studying their physical measurements relative to their measured responses. Relationships between the wind noise and drag responses revealed performance range limitations for sail mounted mirrors. Second, a central composite experimental design was utilized to more closely investigate door mounted mirror shape parameters to determine optimal mirror performance potential. The resulting empirical models developed were used to determine the best overall solution.