The installation of the powertrain in the engine compartment must consider, among other assumptions, the dynamic behavior that the assembly demonstrates in function of its operation and that determines the volume occupied by the system due to its movement. During acceleration, braking, cornering, passing on uneven roads etc., the power train moves within a package that must be well understood to optimize the space occupied by other systems near the perimeter of the engine and which require safe distance from each other under risk of breakage by contact, inadequate transfer of heat and noise. The design of the engine anchorage with the chassis is responsible for the definition of this volume that the engine needs for its operation and its correct definition is required to achieve greater reductions in vehicle volume.
This work shows a computational model to simulate the volume occupied by the engine when the vehicle performs an acceleration test at 0 km/h to 100km/h defined as a condition in which the engine performs the greatest longitudinal displacement within the engine compartment. The construction of the model will include inertial parameters of the powertrain, mass, center of gravity and anchorage geometry, as well as dynamic rubber characteristics of the engine brackets that support the assembly, such as dynamic stiffness factor and damping.
The validation of the model will be determined by means of an experiment in which the movement of the engine brackets and a rigid point of the motor will be acquired when a real vehicle performs the longitudinal acceleration maneuver mentioned before. The displacement of the real powertrain will be compared to that obtained by the simulation of the proposed model, when the torques measured during the experimental test are assigned.
Once an acceptable correlation level has been reached, this hybrid simulation (results of a computational model from experimental inputs data) model can be used to understand the movement of the motor under many conditions of use, allowing a safe determination of how close peripheral components can be installed to the motor.