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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.

A semi-empirical index to evaluate the noise propensity of brake friction materials is introduced. The noise propensity index (NPI) is based on the ratio of surface and matrix stiffness of the friction material, fraction of high-pressure contact plateaus on the sliding surface, and standard deviation of the surface stiffness of the friction material that affect the amplitude and frequency of the stick-slip oscillation. The correlation between noise occurrence and NPI was examined using various brake linings for commercial vehicles. The results obtained from reduced-scale noise dynamometer and vehicle tests indicated that NPI is well correlated with noise propensity. The analysis of the stick-slip profiles also indicated that the surface property affects the amplitude of friction oscillation, while the mechanical property of the friction material influences the propagation of friction oscillation after the onset of vibration.

In this study, the preliminary validation method of the steering system is constructed and the objective is to satisfy the target performance in the conceptual design stage for minimizing the problems after the detailed design. The first consideration about steering system is how to extract the reliable steering effort for parking. The tire model commonly used in MBD(Multi-Body Dynamics) has limited ability to represent deformations under heavy loads. Therefore, it is necessary to study adequate tire model to simulate the behavior due to the large deformation and friction between the ground and the tire. The two approaches related with F tire model and mathematical model are used. The second is how to extract each link’s load in the conceptual design stage. Until now, each link’s load could be derived only by actual vehicle test, and a durability analysis was performed using only pre-settled RIG test conditions.

This paper describes the optimal design process of the steering column system and the supporting system. At the initial concept stage of development process, a design guide is proposed to obtain sufficient stiffness of the steering system while reducing idle vibration sensitivity of the system. Case studies on resonance isolation are summarized, in which separated vibration modes among systems by applying Vibration Mode Map at the initial stage of design process. This study also makes it possible to provide design guideline for optimal dynamic damper system using CAE (computer aided engineering) analysis. The damper FE (finite element) model is added to vehicle model to analyze the relation between the frequency and the sensitivity of steering column system. This analysis methodology enables target performance achievement in early design stage and reduction of damper tuning activity after proto car test stage.

The mechanical energy of an engine is lost by engine friction and in driving the engine's auxiliary components, which is then transferred to transmission. Thus, it is very important to know the exact value of engine friction and the driving torque of engine's auxiliary components in order to reduce fuel consumption of an engine by reducing these losses. And, it is also helpful to know the braking torque of an engine in actual vehicle so as to improve vehicle's driving performance. For these reasons, present study developed an engine torquemeter for in-vehicle application, and measured braking torque of an engine in vehicle and analyzed fuel consumption contributions of engine's auxiliary components.

All vehicles have some or all accessories such as alternators, air conditioner compressors, power steering pumps, and water pumps. These devices are mounted on the front of the engine and are powered by a pulley mounted on the front of the crankshaft. This power represents a parasitic loss and this loss is greater at higher engine speeds. To reduce the impact of the accessories on the engine, a two speed transmission that reduces the accessories speed at off-idle conditions was designed, implemented, and tested on several vehicles. The vehicles were tested for fuel economy on the Japanese 10.15 Mode driving cycle, the FTP75 city cycle, and the HWFET Highway Cycle. Results showed an average of 5% reduction in fuel consumption and a corresponding 5% in CO2 with no impact of accessory performance and vehicle drivability. Simulations with GT-Drive software was used to determine the optimum speed reduction and the threshold switching speed that maximizes fuel savings.

Shudder vibration of a hydraulic power steering system during parking maneuver was studied with numerical and experimental methods. To quantify vibration performance of the system and recognize important stimuli for drivers, a shudder metric was derived by correlation between objective measurements and subjective ratings. A CAE model for steering wheel vibration analysis was developed and compared with measured data. In order to describe steering input dependency of shudder, a new dynamic friction modeling method, in which the magnitude of effective damping is determined by average velocity, was proposed. The developed model was validated using the measured steering wheel acceleration and the pressure change at inlet of the steering gear box. It was shown that the developed model successfully describes major modes by comparing the calculated FRF of the hydraulic system with measured one from the hydraulic excitation test.

Recently, upon customer’s needs for noise-free brake, carmakers are increasingly widely installing damping kits in their braking systems. However, an installation of the damping kits may excessively increase softness in the brake system, by loosening stroke feeling of a brake pedal and increasing compressibility after durability. To find a solution to alleviate this problem, we first conducted experiments to measure compressibility of shims by varying parameters such as adhesive shims (e.g., bonding spec., steel and rubber thickness), piston’s shapes (e.g., different contact areas to the shims), and the numbers of durability. Next, we installed a brake feeling measurement system extended from a brake pedal to caliper. We then compared experimental parameters with brake feeling in a vehicle. Finally, we obtained an optimized level of brake feeling by utilizing the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS).

Creep groan noise occurs in a just moving vehicle by the simultaneous application of torque to the wheel and the gradual release of brake pressure in-vehicle. It is the low frequency noise giving the driver a very uncomfortable feeling. Recently, the field claims regarding the creep groan noise are increasing. So far, creep groan noise has been improved by means of chassis modification the transfer system. But vehicle body the response system does not. In this paper, the effect between vibration characteristics of vehicle body, creep groan noise was analyzed. Then presented analysis method for vehicle body effect regarding creep groan noise.

The market demands for CO2 reduction and fuel economy have led to a variety of new gear set concepts of automatic transmissions with 4 planetary gear sets and 6 shift elements in recent years. Understanding the relationship between the torque of clutch and brake and gear ratio in the design stage is very important to assess new gear set concepts and to set up the control strategy for enhancing shift quality and to reduce the heat generation of clutch and brake. In this paper, a new systematic approach is used to unify the relationship between torque and gear ratio during the gear shift for all multi-step planetary automatic transmissions. This study describes the unified concept model with a lumped inertia regardless of the specific transmission layout and derives the principal unified relationship equations using torque and energy analysis, which prove that the sum of brake torque is always gear ratio -1 in every in-gear.

The engine indicated torque is not delivered entirely to the wheels, because it is lowered by losses, such as the pumping, mechanical friction and front auxiliary power consumption. The front auxiliary belt drive system is a big power consumer-fueling and operating the various accessory devices, such as air conditioning compressor, electric alternator, and power steering pump. The standard fuel economy test does not consider the auxiliary driving torque when it is activated during the actual driving condition and it is considered a five-cycle correction factor only. Therefore, research on improving the front end auxiliary drive (FEAD) system is still relevant in the immediate future, particularly regarding the air conditioning compressor and the electric alternator. An exertion to minimize the auxiliary loss is much smaller than the sustained effort required to reduce engine friction loss.

This paper proposes a reference steering wheel torque map and a torque tracking algorithm via steer-by-wire to achieve the targeted steering feel. The reference steering wheel torque map is designed using the measurement data of rack force and steering characteristic of a target performance of the vehicle at transition steering test. Since the target performance of the vehicle is only tested in nominal road condition, various road conditions such as disturbances and tire-road friction are not considered. Hence, the measurement data of the rack force that reflects the road conditions in the reference steering wheel torque map have been used. The rack force is the net force which consists of tire aligning moment, road friction force and normal force on the tire kingpin axis. A motor and a magnetorheological damper are used as actuators to generate the desired steering feel using the torque tracking algorithm.

Conventional EPS (Electric Power Steering) systems are operated by one type of steering tuning map set by steering test drivers before being released to customers. That is, the steering efforts can't change in many different driving conditions such as road conditions (low mu, high mu and unpaved roads) or some specific driving conditions (sudden stopping, entering into EPS failure modes and full accelerating). Those conditions can't give drivers consistent steering efforts. This paper approached the new concept technology detecting those conditions by using vehicle and EPS sensors such as tire wheel speeds, vehicle speed, steering angle, steering torque, steering speed and so on. After detecting those conditions and judging what the best steering efforts for safe vehicle driving are, EPS systems automatically can be changed with the steering friction level and selection of steering optimized mapping on several conditions.

Professional bus drivers are highly exposed to physical fatigue and work-related injuries because driving task includes complicated actions that require a variety of ability and cause extreme concentration or strain. For this reason, there has always been some sense of concern regarding driver fatigue, especially for drivers of commercial vehicles. In this study, we have tried to analyze quantitative fatigue degree of urban bus drivers by measuring their physiological signals. The investigation is made up of the following approaches: a traditional questionnaire survey and video-ethnographic method with 4-way cameras. The close-circuit cameras are installed to observe the upper and lower body of real drivers when they are in driving or even resting. This approach can help to understand urban bus drivers' behaviors and fatigue-related issues. Based on the video-ethnographic investigation results above, we have got certain patterns of drivers.

In this study, a co-operative regenerative braking control algorithm was developed for an electric vehicle (EV) equipped with an electronic wedge brake (EWB) for its front wheels and an electronic mechanical brake (EMB) for its rear wheels. The co-operative regenerative braking control algorithm was designed considering the road friction characteristic to increase the recuperation energy while avoiding wheel lock. A powertrain model of an EV composed of a motor, and batteries and a MATLAB model of the control algorithm were also developed. They were linked to the CarSim model of the vehicle under study to develop an EV simulator. The EMB and EWB were modeled with an actuator, screw, and wedge to develop an EMB and EWB simulator. A co-simulator for an EV equipped with an EWB for the front wheels and an EMB for the rear wheels was fabricated, composed of the EV and the EMB and EWB simulator.

In order to reduce brake squeal noise, it is important to identify operational deflection shape (ODS) of brake disc while squeal arises. However, in the conventional modal analysis and optical measurement, it is only able to identify limited ODS because of the technical limits. This paper details the test method to identify ODS in radial and tangential as well as axial direction of a brake disc in driving condition. Vibrational signal of a rotating disc was obtained by triaxial accelerometer installed to solid type discs/cooling fins of ventilated type discs, then ODS of disc were analyzed through digital signal processing.

An engineering strategy to develop a new 27-ton dump truck is introduced in the process of design and analysis. Main engineering concerns in development of the new dump truck are focused on reducing weight as much as 180kg without deteriorating structural strength and fatigue life of its upper body - deck and subframe. To achieve this goal, a stress analysis and a fatigue life prediction based on CAE technique are employed at the early stage of design process. A finite element model of the full vehicle was constructed for the strength analysis. Then the fatigue life was predicted through the strength analysis and an S-N curve of high strength steel. The S-N curve for welded structures made of high strength steel was used along with a prototype vehicle's endurance test in order to set strength targets. As a result, the upper body was successfully developed without any fatigue issues.

This paper presents an integrated control of in-wheel motor (IWM) and electronic limited slip differential (eLSD) to enhance the vehicle lateral stability and maneuverability. The two actuators are utilized in the proposed controller to achieve separate purposes. The IWM controller is designed to modify the understeer gradient for enhanced handling characteristic and maneuverability. The eLSD controller is devised to improve the lateral stability to prevent oversteer in a severe maneuver. The proposed controller consists of a supervisor, upper-level controller and lower-level controller. The supervisor determines a target motion based on a target understeer gradient for IWM control and a yaw rate reference for eLSD control. The upper-level controller generates a desired yaw moment for the target motion. In the lower-level controller, the desired yaw moment is converted to the control inputs for IWMs in the two front wheels and eLSD at the rear axle.

NVH analysis based on numerical simulations before actual test vehicle is available becomes common process in the automotive industry. Furthermore, the latest work scope is extending even to conceptual study in the very early design stage, beyond traditional numerical simulations simply using 3-D CAD data. In case when reasonable information is provided at this very early vehicle development stage, a better decision on the design concept would be possible, and subsequent design process can be carried out in more efficient manner. The core of this trend is that it allows us to predict vehicle performance at the conceptual design stage without 3-D CAD data, and then, with this prediction, to suggest meaningful design directions for next stage. From this point of view, FRF-Based Substructuring (FBS) methodology has potential to be used as an appropriate tool for this purpose.