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It is known that SEA is a rapid and simple methodology for analyzing complex vibroacoustic systems. However, the SEA principle is not always valid and one has to be careful about the physical conditions at which the SEA principle is acceptable. In this study, the appropriate damping loss factor of the vehicle interior cavity is studied in the viewpoint of the modal overlap factor of the cavity and the decay per mean free path (DMFP) of the cavity. Virtual SEA tests are performed with an FE model combination, which is suggested by a previous study of Stelzer et al. for the simulation of the sound transmission loss (STL) of vehicle panel structure. The FE model combination is consisting of the body in white (BIW), an acoustical-excited hemisphere-shaped exterior cavity, and the interior cavity. It is found that the DMFP of the interior cavity is appropriate between 0.5 ~ 1 dB for applying SEA principle.

In the brake system, unevenly distributed disc-pad contact pressure not only leads to a falling-off in braking feeling due to uneven wear of brake pads, but also a main cause of system instability which leads to squeal noise. For this reason there have been several attempts to measure contact pressure distribution. However, only static pressure distribution has been measured in order to estimate the actual pressure distribution. In this study a new test method is designed to quantitatively measure dynamic contact pressure distribution between disc and pad in vehicle testing. The characteristics of dynamic contact pressure distribution are analyzed for various driving conditions and pad shape. Based on those results, CAE model was updated and found to be better in detecting propensity of brake squeal.

The electrification of the internal combustion engine is an important subject of future automotive technology. By using a motorized internal combustion engine, it is possible to recover waste energy by regeneration technology and to reduce various losses that deteriorate the efficiency of the internal combustion Engine. This paper summarizes the results of the development of an engine-integrated motor that can be applied to a 48V mild hybrid system for motorization of an internal combustion engine. Like the 48V MHSG-mounted mild hybrid system designed to replace the generator in the auxiliary belt system, the motorized internal combustion engine is designed with the scalability as the top priority to minimize the additional space for the vehicle and to mount the same engine in various models.

A simulation tool has been developed for predicting steering effort of a vehicle during steering power-assist system failure. The vehicle system is modeled with the inclusion of a system-level vehicle model and a steering system model that are linked together through the steering moment at the kingpin and front road wheel angle. A driver model has also been designed to provide closed-loop steering angular input to make the car follow a certain target path. The simulation model is correlated well with actual vehicle tests under various steering input and lateral acceleration conditions. Also illustrated are some examples of comparison between measured and simulated sensitivity study for selected factors.

Driveline torque distribution has long been a research topic, and in the last several decades research has been directed towards enhancing on-road vehicle stability and agility through application of controllable driveline systems. This paper discusses the impact of Direct Yaw Control AWD systems (DYC AWD Systems) on the combined acceleration and turning performance as it pertains to maneuverability and stability on all road surfaces. To achieve higher levels of both safety and performance, the application of a controllable DYC AWD system capable of applying direct yaw moment to the vehicle chassis serves as a key goal to achieve the optimal result. A classification of existing driveline systems is discussed and compared to these optimal requirements. Representative on-vehicle scenarios are discussed to illustrate the impact of AWD control on the vehicle stability and maneuverability and to highlight the effects to the vehicle operator.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) safety application research based on short range real-time communication has been researched for over a decade. Examples of V2V applications include Electronic Emergency Brake Light, Do Not Pass Warning, Lane Departure Warning, and Intersection Movement Assist. It is hoped that these applications, whether present as warning or intervention, will help reduce the incidence of traffic collisions, fatalities, injuries, and property damage. The safety benefits of these applications will likely depend on many factors, such as usability, market penetration, driver acceptance, and reliability. Some applications, such as DNPW and IMA, require a longer communication range to be effective. In addition, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) may be required to communicate without direct line of sight. The signal needs to overcome shadowing effects of other vehicles and buildings that are in the way.

A sliding door is one of the car door systems, which is generally applied to the vans. Compared with swing doors, a sliding door gives comfort to the passengers when they get in or out the car. With an increasing number of the family-scale activities, there followed a huge demand on the vans, which caused growing interests in the convenience technology of the sliding door system. A typical sliding door system has negative effects on the vehicle interior package and the operating effort. Since the door should move backward without touching the car body, the trajectory of the center rail should be a curve. The curve-shaped center rail infiltrates not only the passenger shoulder room, but also the opening flange curve, which results in the interior package loss. Moreover, as the passenger pulls the door outside handle along the normal direction of the door outer skin, the curved rail causes the opening effort loss.

The windshield is an integral part of almost every modern passenger car. Combined with current developments in the automotive industry such as electrification and the integration of lightweight material systems, the reduction of interior noise caused by stochastic and transient wind excitation is deemed to be an increasing challenge for future NVH measures. Active control systems have proven to be a viable alternative compared to traditional passive NVH measures in different areas. However, for windshield actuation there are neither comparative studies nor actually established actuation concepts available to the automotive industry. This paper illustrates a comparative conceptual study on windshield actuation for the active control of wind noise in a passenger car. Making use of an experimental modal analysis of the windshield installed in a medium-sized vehicle, a reduced order numerical simulation model is derived.

In this research, the influence of tire size and shape on sound radiation in the mid-frequency region was studied. First, the relationship between the structural wave propagation characteristics of a tire excited at one point and its sound radiation was identified by using FE and BE analyses. Then, by using that relationship, the effect of modifying a tire's aspect ratio, width and wheel diameter on its sound radiation between 300 Hz and 800 Hz was investigated. Finally, an optimization of the sound radiation was performed by modification of the tire structure and shape. It was found that most of a tire's structural vibration does not contribute to sound radiation. In particular, the effective radiation was found to occur at the frequencies where low wave number components of the longitudinal wave and the flexural wave first appear.

A combined experimental and computational study of 3-D unsteady compressible flow in exhaust manifold and CCC system was performed to understand the flow characteristics and to improve the flow distribution of pulsating exhaust gases within monolith. An experimental study was carried out to measure the velocity distribution in production exhaust manifold and CCC under engine operating conditions using LDV (Laser Doppler Velocimetry) system. Velocity characteristics were measured at planes 25 mm away from the front surface of first monolith and between two monolithic bricks. To provide boundary conditions for the computational study, velocity fields according to crank angle were also measured at the entrance of exhaust manifold. The comparisons of exhaust gas flow patterns in the junction and mixing pipe between experimental and computational results were made.

Most of car makers nowadays produce Cylinder Head Cover with Thermoplastic to get the benefit of weight and cost reduction. The production of Cylinder Head Cover with Thermoplastic brings a number of benefits such as enhancement in productivity, design freedom, integration with other parts and reduction in weight. However, NVH characteristics, sealing performance issues possibly caused by design of cover and gasket and loss of properties of materials when used for long-term period still remain as critical tasks to be solved. Especially in case of car OEMs strongly insist that we have to meet their severe specifications requirements so as to satisfy their customers' growing demand. Sealing performance is one of the core factors, which require continuous effort and studies to meet the OEM's specifications.

On-center feel is a multivariate problem that a performance is represented using put-together several sub-characteristics such as torque feedback, response, torque linearity, hysteresis, returnability, etc. For the improvement of a multivariate problem, multi objective optimization should be carried out. However each characteristic which ignores correlation between characteristics is usually optimized up to now. The objective of this research, Mahalanobis Taguchi System (MTS) technique is grafted to on-center steering feel to obtain the efficient improvement. MTS technique can optimize the unified on-center index which is generated in consideration of correlation between characteristics. In this research, first an effective value of MTS technique is verified with on-center steering feel which has the multivariate characteristic. Second, on-center steering feel is improved using MTS technique and Design of Experiments (DOE).

3D digital human modeling (DHM) tools for vehicle packaging facilitate ergonomic design and evaluation based on anthropometry, comfort, and force analysis. It is now possible to quickly predict postures and positions for drivers with selected anthropometry based on ergonomics principles. Despite their powerful visual representation technology for human movements and postures, these tools are still questioned with regard to the validity of the output they provide, especially when predictions are made for different populations. Driving postures and positions of two populations (i.e. North Americans and Koreans) were measured in actual and mock-up SUVs to investigate postural differences and evaluate the results provided by a DHM tool. No difference in driving postures was found between different stature groups within the same population. Between the two populations, however, preferred angles differed for three joints (i.e., ankle, thigh, and hip).

Over the past several years, significant advances have been made in the area of posture prediction. However, to make simulations more useful for vehicle design, additional unique tools are needed. This research focuses on the development of one such tool, called zone differentiation. This new tool allows user to visualize not only the complete reach envelope but also the interior comfort levels of the envelope. It uses a color map to display the relative values of various performance measures (i.e. comfort) at points surrounding an avatar. This is done by leveraging an optimization-based approach to posture prediction. Using this tool, a vehicle designer can visually display the impact that the placement of a control (switch, button, etc.) has on a driver's postural comfort. The comfort values are displayed in a manner similar to how a finite element analysis (FEA) programs display stress and strain results. The development of this tool requires two main components.

With the recent development of technologies for interpreting vibration and noise of vehicles, it has become possible for carmakers to reduce idle vibration and driving noise in the phase of preceding development. Thus, the issue of noise generation is drawing keen attention from production of prototype car through mass-production development. J. D. Power has surveyed the levels of customer satisfaction with all vehicles sold in the U.S. market and released the Initial Quality Study (IQS) index. As a growing number of emotional quality-related items are added to the IQS evaluation index, it is necessary to secure a sufficiently high quality level of low-frequency speaker sound against rattle noise. It is required to make a preceding review on the package tray panel, which is located at the bottom of the rear glass where the woofer speakers of a passenger sedan are installed, the door module panel in which the door speakers are built.

Depending on the scatter of material properties, geometrical shapes and load conditions, the fatigue life of mechanical components has wide range of scatter although they were tested under same conditions. This scatter is the main reason of different results between observed and predicted fatigue life. This study shows how to estimate the fatigue life distribution by analysis. Dominant factors for fatigue life distributions and their scatter could be obtained by comparing the analysis results and fatigue test results. Applying the scatter of these factors to fatigue analysis, it was possible to predict fatigue life distributions. This will improve the reliability of fatigue life estimation, therefore a more robust and reliable component design is possible.

An objective benchmarking process for vehicle dynamics that incorporates both test and simulation was used in the development of a sedan. Data from objective measurements of vehicle handling response was used as input to simulation. Simulation results generated a range of system level characteristics to evaluate on a test vehicle. In detail, this process includes system level vehicle simulation software for model building and generating an array of output characteristics. The directional changes were then applied to early build prototype vehicles for focused objective and subjective vehicle evaluation.

Various deformation shapes of the vehicle body were investigated for the purpose to establish vehicle body's performance criteria which correlates well to handling performance and ride comfort. Using CAE tool, the dynamic behavior of a structure by its modal parameter can be described instead of by its nodes and elements. Each modal characteristic in a dynamic system is reduced by its modal stiffness, its modal mass and its damping parameter in the model. This technology offers not only computational efficiency but also parametric model enabling easy what-if simulation. This reduced model can be obtained by modal test as well as simulation of full FE model. It was also investigated that which mode is sensitive to ride or handling performance using the parameterized model. The body stiffness of the brand new 2010 SONATA was improved on reference to the sensitivity analysis. The ride and handling performance of the 2010 SONATA were verified by computer simulation and vehicle field test

The Thor-Lx leg and foot complex is being developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Applied Safety Technologies Corporation, and GESAC, Inc., as a new research and development (R&D) tool which will be more biofidelic than the current Hybrid-III lower extremity. This paper reviews the results from a matrix of tests performed to evaluate the response of the Thor-Lx in comparison to the Hybrid-III lower extremity in high-speed frontal crashes. The testing included three 64 km/h frontal offset deformable barrier tests and two 56 km/h flat rigid barrier tests. Testing was done using the following Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) combinations: Hybrid-III with the Hybrid-III Enhanced Instrumented Tibia, Hybrid-III with the Thor-Lx, and Thor with the Thor-Lx. The response of the lower extremity was found to vary with each leg and torso combination.

Accelerated simulation of vehicle corrosion in a controlled environment not only involves large chambers for actual vehicle tests, but also requires careful consideration of interactions between various parameters given a short time period within which the test is bounded. A new corrosion durability test mode reproducing various field conditions using salt spray, climatic, sunlight simulation and cold chambers has been developed. Verification of the test mode is carried out using four actual vehicle corrosion tests correlated against used cars of Nort h America and Northern Europe. The process of new corrosion test mode is discussed along with the characteristics of the test chambers.