Vibration and sound radiation analysis of vehicle axle systems using an integrated approach

Axle whine problem has been a major concern for automotive manufacturers. The presence of axle whine can increase the noise level in the passenger compartment and cause customer complaints. Because the axle whine is a system-level NVH problem, it requires a full system-level simulation and analysis to give a potential solution. This paper presents an integrated approach for analyzing the vibration and noise radiation of vehicle axle system efficiently. First, load tooth contact analysis (LTCA) is performed to calculate the contact forces on the gear teeth. Then, the contacted information is synthesized to obtain the mesh parameters for gear dynamic analysis. The gear dynamic model used in this study is a multi-body non-linear dynamic model and time-varying bearing forces at actual bearing locations are calculated and used to excite the finite element (FE) model of an axle housing. Finally, the surface velocities from the housing forced vibration analysis are taken into the boundary element (BE) model and sound pressure levels around the axle housing and sound power level are calculated. The proposed methodology can be employed to assist driveline system design and gear whine troubleshooting.