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The main purpose of this research is to investigate the optimal design of pipeline diameter in an air brake system in order to reduce the response time for driving safety using DOE (Design of Experiment) method. To achieve this purpose, this paper presents the development and validation of a computer-aided analytical dynamic model of a pneumatic brake system in commercial vehicles. The brake system includes the subsystems for brake pedal, treadle valve, quick release valve, load sensing proportional valve and brake chamber, and the simulation models for individual components of the brake system are established within the multi-domain physical modeling software- AMESim based on the logic structure. An experimental test bench was set up by connecting each component with the nylon pipelines based on the actual layout of the 4×2 commercial vehicle air brake system.

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.

The automatic mechanical transmission (AMT) was designed by automobile manufacturers to provide a better driving experience, especially in cities where congestion frequently causes stop-and-go traffic patterns. It uses electronic sensors, processors, hydraulic or pneumatic actuators execute clutch actuation and gear shifts on the command of the driver. Such systems coupled with various physical domains have great influence on the dynamic behavior of the vehicle, such as shift quality, driveability, acceleration, etc. This paper presents a detailed AMT model composed of various components from multi-domains like mechanical systems (clutch, gear pair, synchronizer, etc.), pneumatic actuator systems (clutch actuation system, gear select actuation system, gear shift actuation system, etc.). Various components and subsystem models, such as the vehicle, engine, AMT, wheels, etc., are integrated into an overall vehicle system model according to the transmission power flow and control logic.

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.

This paper deals with the robust design of the Load Sensing Proportional Valve (LSPV). To find out the parameters which have main effect on the performance of the LSPV, the DOE based on orthogonal experiment is carried out utilizing the LSPV model built in AMESim environment. In order to save computation expense, the RSM technique is used to approximate the optimal objectives and constraints. Then a robust design methodology using multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) is performed and a set of non-dominated solutions are therefore obtained. With specified assessments, feasible solutions can therefore be selected from the entire field of the Pareto optimal solutions. The validation is made by Monte Carlo Simulation Technique in terms of the robustness of the feasible solutions.

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.

This paper presents the dynamic and analysis models of a typical synchronizer, which are mainly used to analyze the sensitivity of parameters of synchronizer on the gear shift performance. Because there are so many parameters namely coefficient of friction, cone angle, mean radius, blocker angle, etc, affected the synchronizer performance, which the times of experience will increase in a geometrical ratio if tested them one by one, it is almost impossible to evaluate all parameters by experience alone. Due to virtual prototype technology, the synchronizer parameterized virtual models can be built for the synchronizer studies. The parameterized virtual models of the typical synchronizers are developed with ADAMS. Then the gear shift process is simulated and analyzed for the given input parameters respectively. The models also predict the shift time and the peak of the shift force, and the model is validated by the good correlation between simulation results and test data.

Due to the elimination of the mechanical connection between the steering column and steering gear in the Steer-by-Wire (SBW) system, the road-feeling simulation is mainly supplied by the road-feeling motor which loads a drag torque on the steering wheel rather than the actual torque transmitted from the road. To obtain more realistic steering wheel torque, a novel feedback torque of the road-feeling motor fusion estimation method based on the Kalman filter is presented in this paper. Firstly, the model-based estimation method is utilized to estimate the aligning torque between tires and ground which is converted into the rack force through the steering system. Then the estimated rack force is used as the observed data for the Kalman Filter of the sensor-based method and the Kalman Filter-based fusion estimation method is resulted, through which the more realistic feedback torque of the road-feeling motor can be obtained.