On Predicting Automotive Clutch Torsional Vibrations

Automotive clutches are prone to rigid body torsional vibrations during engagement, a phenomenon referred to as take-up judder. This is also accompanied by fore and aft vehicle motions. Aside from driver behaviour in sudden release of clutch pedal (resulting in loss of clamp load), and type and state of friction lining material, the interfacial slip speed and contact temperature can significantly affect the propensity of clutch to judder. The ability to accurately predict the judder phenomenon relies significantly on the determination of operational frictional characteristics of the clutch lining material. This is dependent upon contact pressure, temperature and interfacial slip speed. The current study investigates the ability to predict clutch judder vibration with the degree of complexity of the torsional dynamics model. For this purpose, the results from a four and nine degrees of freedom dynamics models are compared and discussed. Subsequently, the predictions are compared with the acquired data from an automotive driveline test rig. It is shown that the complexity of the dynamic model, intended for the study of a clutch system, can be as important as the thermo-mechanical and frictional properties of the clutch friction lining material.