Methodology On The Testing Of The Automobile Mount Dynamic Response

This paper reports the latest development of methodologies for testing and CAE modeling of the automobile mounts. The objective of this study is to provide dynamic mount properties for product evaluation and CAE modeling guideline for crashworthiness simulations. The methodology is divided into component, subsystem and full system levels. The study at the component level is to extract the dynamic parameters of mounts, such as stiffness and damping coefficient, based on the component tests. Furthermore, such parameters are employed to investigate the interaction between mount and connecting structures at the subsystem level. A robust connection mechanism from mount to surrounding structures is also developed during this process. Finally, the results from full vehicle system tests are compared with the CAE simulations to verify the methodology at the component and subsystem levels.

A robust component test methodology is the first key element of this study. This paper mainly focuses on the development of a universal test fixture with required instrumentations to achieve acquisition of accurate data from which the mount dynamic properties are identified, and processed. Extracted results are then reduced to appropriate input formats for CAE modeling.