The automotive industry is heading in the direction of signing off exhaust system durability based on rig simulation tests rather than running physical vehicles on the proving ground. This is due to the cost, time, and availability of prototype, pre-production vehicles, and the durability track itself. To this end, several types of test rigs for exhaust systems have been developed, such as single table rig and dual table rig. New methods are also being developed in exhaust rig simulation that significantly reduce development time and program risk.
The exhaust test rig has been implemented physically, however, the rig simulation procedures and methods have not yet been investigated thoroughly. There are many issues that can and do influence simulation quality, such as selection of control, iteration channel preparation, and control channel optimization. In addition, the coupling effect between the powertrain and test rig through the powertrain mounts could produce high nonlinear behavior for the test rig. Sensitivity study is proposed in this paper to find out the optimal direction to tune the drive file, to get the desired rig to road correlation.