Vibration Mode Study of Steering Columns for Commercial Vehicles

On the development process of truck vehicles, the dynamic behavior must be considered together with the costs involved in this development. Objective measurements, subjective evaluations and CAE simulations are used in order to support this development process.

Ride comfort, acceleration and braking performance, handling and NVH are examples of attributes considered in the dynamic behavior evaluation of a tuck. Some characteristics of steering column vibration, noise and harshness are relevant to guarantee driver comfort level and vehicle safety.

In this work, CAE models validated by experimental measurements were used to identify cab and vehicle modes of vibration which have significant influence on steering column response. Using this procedure, an alternative was proposed in order to decrease the amplitudes of cab and steering column vibration.