Improvement of the NVH Quality of High-performance Sport Cars by using a Split-Frame Layout

In this paper we studied a design solution for sport cars consisting of a split-frame layout which aims at reducing noise and vibration inside the cabin without degrading the handling performances. This layout is obtained by splitting the vehicle body into the cabin and the chassis. The two parts are connected through an appropriate mount system that filters the exciting forces arising from the vehicle subsystems attached to the chassis (i.e. suspension and powertrain units). A deep analysis of this design solution was carried out by developing a full multibody model of a virtual split-frame sport car with a rigid-mounted powertrain supporting the rear suspensions. The results obtained by this layout were compared with a standard layout for sport cars (rear suspensions attached to body and rubber engine mount system) and a typical layout for race cars (rigid-mounted powertrain supporting the rear suspensions). All the results achieved during this first step of the study revealed excellent attitudes of the split-frame layout and paved the way to future developments of the research.