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This paper summarizes the validation of prototype vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) safety applications based on Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) in the United States under a cooperative agreement between the Crash Avoidance Metrics Partners LLC (CAMP) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). After consideration of a number of V2I safety applications, Red Light Violation Warning (RLVW), Curve Speed Warning (CSW) and Reduced Speed Zone Warning with Lane Closure Warning (RSZW/LC) were developed, validated and demonstrated using seven different vehicles (six passenger vehicles and one Class 8 truck) leveraging DSRC-based messages from a Road Side Unit (RSU). The developed V2I safety applications were validated for more than 20 distinct scenarios and over 100 test runs using both light- and heavy-duty vehicles over a period of seven months. Subsequently, additional on-road testing of CSW on public roads and RSZW/LC in live work zones were conducted in Southeast Michigan.

There are various tests for evaluating how well a vehicle protects people in a crash. The frontal and offset crash test is one of the most important tests that evaluate the crashworthiness of a vehicle. In this paper, we will discuss some parameters that have a major effect on the amount and pattern of intrusion into the occupant compartment during the frontal and offset crash test. And the characteristics of impact are described according to the types of chassis frame, T-type frame and #-type frame. The T-frame has worse performance than #-frame in crash, So it is necessary to make stronger dash compartments in T-frame. We will design a vehicle which has optimized body, chassis structure and material selections by controlling major parameters of frontal crash performance.

Copper has been regarded as one of the indispensable ingredients in the brake friction materials since it provides high thermal diffusivity at the sliding interface. However, the recent regulations against environmentally hazardous ingredients limit the use of copper in the commercial friction material and much effort has been made for the alternatives. In this work, the role of the cuprous ingredients such as copper fiber, copper powder, cupric oxide (CuO), and copper sulfide (CuS) are studied using the friction materials based on commercial formulations. The investigation was performed using a full inertial brake dynamometer and 1/5 scale dynamometer for brake performance and wear test. Results showed that the cuprous ingredients played a crucial role in maintaining the stable friction film at the friction interface, resulting in improved friction stability and reduced aggressiveness against counter disk.

This paper investigates the sensitivity of stiffness of front and rear suspension systems on the structure-borne road noise inside a vehicle cabin. A flexible multi-body dynamics based approach is used to simulate the structural dynamics of suspension systems including rubber bushings, suspension arms, a subframe and a twist beam. This approach can accurately predict the force transfer to the trimmed body at each suspension mounting point up to a frequency range of 0 to 300 Hz, which is validated against a force measurement test using a suspension test rig. Predicted forces at each mounting point are converted to road noise inside the cabin by multiplying it with experimentally obtained noise transfer functions. All of the suspension components are modeled as flexible bodies using Craig-Bampton component mode synthesis method.

In order to replace PVC with TPO as I/P skin layer of invisible PAB, the elongation behavior, vacuum thermoforming, thermal, light resistance and low temperature PAB deployment of TPO were investigated. With the elongation properties; 50cN ↑ melt strength, 300mm/s ↑ breaking speed, 200s ↑ breaking time, TPO was vacuum-formed well like PVC. The thermal and light resistances of TPO were superior to PVC. In terms of low temperature airbag test, PVC was fractured with the brittle behavior during the deployment. TPO, however, showed the ductile fracture. And also when TPO was used for PAB cover, the elongation ratio of TPO was also important criterion for the normal break without any interference to I/P part, outside of PAB. The 300∼500% elongation ratio was most preferable.

The current sensor for motor control is one of the main components in inverters for eco-friendly vehicles. Recently, as the higher performance of torque control has become required, the current sensor measurement error and accuracy of motor controls have become more significant. Since the response time of the sensor affects the motor output power, the response delay of the sensor causes measurement errors of the current. Accordingly, the voltage vector changes, and a motor output power deviation occurs. In the case of the large response delay of the sensor, as motor speed increases, then difference between motoring and generating output power becomes larger and larger. This results in the deterioration of power performance in high-speed operation. The deviation of the voltage vector magnitude is the main cause of motor output power deviation and imbalance through the simulation.

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.

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.

It is considered that improper usage of rubber bushes and weak dynamic characteristics of chassis and body structures yield interior road noise problems. This paper describes systematic processes for road noise improvement along with measurement and analysis process. Firstly, the noise sources are identified by using a source decomposition method. Secondly, the main noise paths are identified by using a noise path analysis (NPA) method. Thirdly, the design modification of body panels is suggested for road noise reduction by using a panel contribution analysis. Finally the method is validated by applying to road noise improvement process for a new vehicle.

The woofer in a car should be large to cover the low frequencies, so it is heavy and needs an ample space to be installed in a passenger car. The geometry of the woofer should conform to the limited available space and layout in general. In many cases, the passengers feel that the low-frequency contents are not satisfactory although the speaker specification covers the low frequencies. In this work, a thin panel is installed between the roof liner and the roof panel, and it is used as the woofer. The vibration field is controlled by many small actuators to create the speaker and baffle zones to avoid the sound distortion due to the modal interaction. The generation of speaker and baffle zones follows the inverse vibro-acoustic rendering technique. In the actual implementation, a thin acrylic plate of 0.53x0.2 m2 is used as the radiator panel, and the control actuator array is composed of 16 moving-coil actuators.

Lithium-ion battery has advantages of high energy density and cost effectiveness than other types of batteries. However due to the low mechanical stability, their performance is strongly influenced by environmental conditions. Especially, external pressure on a cell surface is a crucial factor because an appropriate force can improve battery cycle life, but excessive force may cause structural failure. In addition, battery pack is composed of various components so that uncertainties in dimension and material properties of each component can cause a wide variance in initial pressure. Therefore, it is important to optimize structural design of battery pack to ensure initial pressure in an effective range. In this paper, target stiffness of module structure was determined based on cell level cycle life test, then structural design has been optimized for weight reduction. Cell cycling tests were performed under different stiffness conditions and analyzed with regression model.

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).

To date, efforts to improve occupant protection in side impact crashes have concentrated on reducing the injuries to occupants seated on the struck side of the vehicle arising from contact with the intruding side structure and/or external objects. Crash investigations indicate that occupants on the struck side of a vehicle may also be injured by contact with an adjacent occupant in the same seating row. Anecdotal information suggests that the injury consequences of occupant-to-occupant impacts can be severe, and sometimes life threatening. Occupant-to-occupant impacts leave little evidence in the vehicle, and hence these impacts can be difficult for crash investigators to detect and may be underreported. The objective of this study was to evaluate the risk of impact injury from occupant-to-occupant impacts in side impact vehicle crashes. The study examined 9608 crashes extracted from NASS/CDS 1993-2006 to investigate the risk of occupant-to-occupant impacts.

A new noble material for automotive bumper fascia has been developed by compounding of ethylene-propylene block copolymers with ethylene-α-olefin copolymers and some additives. Also mineral fillers are added, if necessary. This material is suitable for injection molding of large parts including automotive bumper fascia. By using selected rubbers which have proper melt viscosity, molecular weight, and co-monomer content, and adding modified polymer containing polar group, it has enhanced processibility and paintability maintaining general properties such as tensile strength, impact strength at low temperature, and thermal and UV stability. The remarkable characteristics of this material is good processibility compared to the conventional TPOs. This material has especially high melt flow index(20∼30g/10min at 230°C) and stable flow behavior at the processing conditions.

The present study focused on CrN-Cu nanocoatings composed of nano-meter grains with CrN, Cr and Cu functioning low-friction, anti-wear and heat resistance. The coatings were synthesized by hybrid PVD including metal arc source, magentron sputter source and ion-gun source. Although Cu has low hardness, the hardness of CrNCu is not declined because it was composed of below 20nm sized grains of CrN, Cr, and Cu. However, CrN-Cu had lower friction than CrN owing to Cu’s low shear strength. CrN-Cu films optimized using the Reaction Surface Method (RSM) showed the excellent tribological behavior and low coefficient of friction compared with DLC. The tribological properties of the Cr-Cu-N demonstrated superior wear resistance and low friction at normal and high temperature conditions. The CrN-Cu nanocoatings can be used for the downsizing automotive engines working at severe tribological conditions.

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.

The controlled rolling process has been introduced to increase strength and toughness of alloy steels for the application of transmission gear. Cr-Mo alloy steel containing 0.02% Nb was controlled rolled in the temperature range of 870-970°C, showed fine austenite grain size, about ASTM No.11, resulted from the effects of recrystallization and Nb(C,N) precipitation. To investigate the effects of grain refinement on mechanical properties, several tests were conducted for the newly developed controlled rolled steel and conventional Ni-Cr-Mo alloy steel after carburizing. The new steel showed 2.1 times higher pitting resistance than the conventional steel. Fatigue limits of new and conventional steels were 950 and 930 MPa respectively. Charpy impact energy of new steel was improved about 35% compared with the conventional steel. Consequently, the pinion gear from the new steel instead of conventional one showed enhanced performance, especially pitting resistance, in dynamometer test.

In order to cope with new exhaust emission regulations, automotive industry is interested in research and development of HSDI (High Speed Direct Injection) diesel engines with common rail systems. Since HSDI diesel engine operates under highly loaded condition due to increased power output, cylinder head of HSDI diesel engine is susceptible to high cycle fatigue cracks. In this study, FE analysis was used to find the mechanism of high cycle fatigue crack in the HSDI diesel cylinder head. In order to improve the durability of HSDI diesel cylinder head, the modifications of cylinder head and head bolt pre-load were investigated. Experiments were performed to prove the existence of residual stress created during the heat treatment of cylinder head. The results of experiments showed that residual stress can affect the durability of HSDI diesel cylinder head.

High strength oil-tempered wire was developed to apply to light-weight valve spring for automotive engine. By adding Mo, V, B and Ni, tensile strength increased by 20% compared to the conventional oil-tempered wire. Higher tensile strength of wire enabled a constant of valve spring to lower by reducing the size of spring. As a result, reduction of spring constant lowers the load of spring, thereby enhancing fuel efficiency.

Suspension system of vehicle is very important because it has an effect on ride comfort and safety. And the leaf spring is one of the major parts of commercial vehicle. By that reason it has to be designed to operate under severe condition to ensure enough endurance. But the traditional method for fatigue design needs repeated fatigue tests for each design according to its geometry, material, and operating condition. This means that a lot of time and money is needed for those tests. Thus, in this paper, a fatigue design method for leaf spring based on numerical analysis is proposed. At first, stress analysis is performed to get the stress under operation load or rig tests. And fatigue analysis is performed to get the fatigue life and to ensure the safety of leaf spring. Through this study, design parameters that play vital role in fatigue life of the leaf spring can be found out.