NVH Robustness Design of Axle Systems

This paper presents the principles of robustness design of axle system dynamics to reduce vehicle system related axle gear whine. Through examining the physics of the axle gear noise, the influence of the system dynamics are identified as two parts, i.e., the dynamics mesh force generated at the gear meshing per unit gear mesh motion variation; and the force transmissibility from mesh to the axle housing, and then further to the bracket attachments. The noise sensitive design parameters are identified and discussed. Component design requirements are proposed to minimize the system resonances in the typical gear mesh frequency range. The use of FEA models for system understanding and further design tuning is illustrated.